Reset
by milkblush
Summary: This story takes place after Season One finale. Regina Mills thought that having magic in Storybrooke would help her get her son back after the Dark Curse she cast 28 years ago broke. But what she did not know was that something else came with the magical cloud that engulfed the town caused her to be stuck in a time loop where her son did not wake from True Love's Kiss.
1. Prologue

**A/N:** This story takes place after Season One finale. It has a slight twist to what happened at the end of the season. I hope you enjoy the concept.

This Chapter is beta-ed and re-uploaded. Thank you so much to Chrimsonmoon who agreed to help me beta read this story. More chapters are going to be uploaded very soon.

* * *

 _How could everything go terribly wrong?_ Regina had everything going for her since enacting the Dark Curse. She was the mayor of a small town in Maine, she lived in the biggest house in Storybrooke, and has a son who loved and adored her. Correction _had_ a son who loved and adored her. He now belonged to Emma Swan, his biological mother who had given up all parental rights when she put him up for adoption.

According to the laws of this realm, Henry would still be recognized legally as Regina's son, however, after the curse had been broken, the laws somehow did not apply anymore. Not when everybody who had been cursed remembered who they were and where they came from, such laws do not exist.

With just a True Love's Kiss, the curse broke destroying all Regina had worked hard for to get her happiness and now that everybody was awake, they will be coming after her.

Regina could not remember the last time she felt powerless and small. It felt like a lifetime ago, back in the Enchanted Forest, when her mother was still alive, controlling her in every way.

The mayor entered her son's room slowly, gently threading onto the carpeted floor, subconsciously trying to preserve the presence of her son. Her eyes wandered to her son's bed where she used to read bedtime stories before kissing Henry goodnight and tucking him in. That ritual stopped shortly after Emma became a part of his life when Regina started coming home late from the office, scheming ways to get rid of Emma Swan for good. Henry would have already been asleep and she wouldn't have the heart to wake him up. She would plant a kiss on his forehead and tuck him in before heading to bed herself to prepare for another day of destroying the rival blonde.

As days went by, the brunette, too busy carrying out her evil plans, lost sight of her daily routine which was the only bond she had left with the young boy. As much as Henry wanted to be with his birth mother, he actually enjoyed those moments with his mom because in those very moments, Regina Mills was just an ordinary mother who loved and cared for her son and it was in those same moments, Henry would sincerely express his love for his adoptive mother.

Unable to contain her emotions any longer, Regina picked up one of the pillows and hugged it tightly. Tears started falling down her cheeks dripping onto a spot, soaking Henry's pillow. The brunette breathed in the familiar scent of her son that wafted from the object she had been holding. She would give anything just to be able to have him back in her life again.

Her moment of reminiscence was interrupted by a sudden loud crashing noise coming from outside the window. A continuous roaring could be heard in the distance. It seemed to grow louder and louder. Curiously, Regina dropped the pillow and walked over to the window to investigate.

A familiar purplish thunderous cloud was spreading clear through town. _Magic was coming._ The mayor thought to herself. A slow grin crept onto her face. She may have a chance to get her son back after all.

*.*.*.*.*

"What did you do?!" Belle asked her lover as a purple cloud started forming in front of them.

Whatever potion Rumplestiltskin had poured into the well, it was definitely working. A curse like this was of no challenge for the Dark One to cast.

"I'm just adding a little flavour to this town, my dear. With magic, I will finally be able to locate Baelfire." The elderly man said.

"Your son? He's here?" The red-haired woman queried.

"He is somewhere in this realm and I will find him. But before I do, there is something else that I need to take care of." He took out another bottle that contained a dark liquid and popped open the cork, emptying its contents together with the existing potion.

The thunderous cloud continued to grow and rise out of the well. Belle grabbed hold of the Dark One's coat as she shudders in fear of what was to come. The old man leaned into his cane as he grinned, proud of what he had created.


	2. Chapter 1

**A/N:** This chapter has been edited by my beta reader, Chrimsonmoon, and re-uploaded.

I hope you are enjoying the story so far. Chapter Two will be uploaded too.

* * *

The purple thundercloud that crashed fiercely through the town dissipated. Regina could feel magic buzzing around her. It was a familiar feeling, one that she missed having for twenty-eight long years. She can now use this magic to claim Henry for herself and make her pesky blonde problem go away.

Just as soon as that thought crossed her mind, she saw a car that had just past not too long ago, started moving backwards.

 _That is odd._ Regina thought to herself. She noticed the car picking up speed and continued moving backwards until it was out of sight. Another car appeared to be moving backwards too! A few people on the sidewalk joined in the phenomenon along with a bird! The sun that had risen a couple of hours ago began to set in the east!

The brunette stood slacked jawed. She had a bad feeling about this. Time was moving back and it was picking up speed. Just as quickly as it started, it suddenly stopped. Regina turned to check the time on Henry's Transformers alarm clock on his nightstand. 8:15 p.m. it read.

Whoever it was that brought magic back to Storybrooke had got to be the one to cast this new spell to turn back time. The mayor had a confident inkling as to who had cast such a curse.

Regina felt her phone vibrate in her pocket. Being mayor of Storybrooke, she had the habit of keeping her phone on vibrate in case she was in the middle of her many meetings. Even though the town was created from a curse, Regina took her mayoral role very seriously.

She fished out the phone from her pant pocket. She normally had her phone with her in her handbag but whenever she wore slacks that had pockets, she would take full advantage of its convenience.

The screen flashed brightly with the number to the local hospital shown clearly in the display. The brunette slid the call button to the right of the touchscreen.

"Hello?" Regina answered.

"Regina! It's Whale."

"What is it, Doctor Whale?" concern evident in her voice.

"It's Henry. He… he is being brought in." the doctor tried to explain as calmly as he could. "I think you need to come to the hospital right away. He'll be here any minute."

Regina blinked a couple of times. This was the exact same phone call she had received the night before. The mayor quickly linked what she witnessed outside her house not a moment ago to the phone call. Time had rewound to the exact moment Henry had slipped into a coma from eating the poisoned apple turnover she had made specifically for Emma Swan.

She had no idea what Rumplestiltskin had planned or why he chose to rewind time to this exact moment, but she didn't have time to think about this as she had to attend to her son.

*.*.*.*.*

 _Where was it?!_ Emma dashed to the other side of the room with Henry's bag. She emptied the backpack onto a hospital bed. She needed confirmation. Her son had taken a bite of the apple turnover Regina had given her earlier as a parting gift to enjoy on her trip back to Boston. Henry wanted to prove a point that his adoptive mother wanted to poison his birth mother.

The blonde should have believed him. The contents of the bag littered the bedsheet. It became apparent that the storybook her son carried around with him religiously was missing.

Even though Doctor Whale insisted that Henry was not showing any symptoms of being poisoned, the blonde knew who was to blame for her son's condition.

The door to the trauma room burst open.

"Where is my son?" Regina inquired frantically.

Despite having gone through this before, Regina wasn't sure if this was the same emergency or a new one. Before she could reach Henry's bedside to talk to the medical personnel treating her son, she felt a tug on her elbow and shoulder. She spun around to find herself in the storage room. She braced herself as she was unable to stop herself from crashing into the storage racks.

"You did this!" Emma's eyes burned with anger.

"Emma?!" Regina gasped. _This was the same night!_ The brunette could finally confirm it.

Having gone through this moment before, the mayor was sure she did not want to go through the physical manhandling of the sheriff.

"WAIT!" the brunette called out before Emma could grab her and pin her to the wall like she did before.

"You did it didn't you?! You poisoned the pastry!" Emma screamed the accusation in Regina's face.

"I know this looks bad…"

 _Wrong answer Regina!_ The brunette knew she was done for the second she uttered those words. Emma pulled Regina by the shoulders and swung her to the metal cupboards, pinning her body against the furniture, the blonde's full body weight pressed into her.

"Emma, I need you to calm down. I'll explain everything." Regina said slowly with slight fear in her voice.

The sheriff was expecting a fight. She was taken aback by the mayor's calm despite her son's life slowly slipping away in the next room. However, Emma was not ready to release the grip on the brunette.

"Speak!" the sheriff demanded.

"Everything Henry told you is true."

Emma was definitely not expecting to hear those words coming out of Regina's mouth.

"What do you mean?"

"The curse, the fairy tale characters… me being the Evil Queen…"

"What?!" Emma's green eyes grew wide. She released the brunette from her grip.

"You poisoned the turnover didn't you?"

The mayor nodded yes.

"I placed a sleeping curse on it. I used the same poison apple your mother, Snow White took a bite out of." Regina could not help but clench her teeth when mentioning the name of her arch nemesis.

 _My mother, is_ _Snow White? Mary Margaret?!_ Emma couldn't believe her ears but looking at the caramel eyes before her, she knew Regina was telling the truth.

"How are you so calm? Don't you care that Henry is dying?!"

"Because… this has already happened once before."

"What do you mean?" the sheriff asked incredulously.

"You broke the curse! You brought Henry back to life!" the brunette's voice was laden with hope.

"How?! When?"

"This morning… well, this morning for me but tomorrow for you."

"You are not making any sense!"

"You broke the curse I cast to bring everybody to this town from the Enchanted Forest. Everybody woke up and remembered who they were. I went back to Henry's room because I was sure that I would never get to see him again. I had to hide from the townspeople who wouldn't be too pleased to see me." Regina paused to see if the blonde was buying her explanation.

Emma's silence indicated that she wanted to hear more so the mayor continued. "I saw the day moving back to this night… to this very moment."

"That's impossible," Emma whispered.

"Believe me, dear, all of this is very much real."

"What do we do? How do I break the spell?"

"Well, the last time you broke the curse by kissing Henry."

"That's it? Like Sleeping Beauty?"

Regina was slightly annoyed by Emma's reference to people who are very much real in her world like they are mere stories.

"True love's kiss is the most powerful magic of all."

"Okay," the sheriff look deep into the mayor's eyes "let's do this."

Regina's breath hitched in her throat. She shook herself out of it as the blonde start to exit the storage room. The mayor pulls Emma back in.

"Not now!" the brunette rolled her eyes.

"Our son is dying!" the sheriff pointed out.

"He won't die until tomorrow morning. We have plenty of time."

"Are you kidding me?!" the idea of her son dying alone was reason enough to make haste but Emma trust the mayor. Despite their differences, she knows deep down that Regina loved her son unconditionally.

"If you go now, they won't let you near Henry. They need to work on stabilizing him." the mayor pointed out.

Emma calmed down as she considered the point.

"As soon as they cleared the way, we can go save him," Regina reassured the younger woman.

The blonde nodded in agreement. The two women exited the storage room and watched as the medical team worked frantically on stabilizing Henry, who had already been intubated and hooked onto machines that measured his vitals.

It only took a few minutes before the medical personnel cleared out of the room. Satisfied with the readings on the monitors save for Doctor Whale who was recording the treatment rendered onto Henry's chart. During the women's absence, they had also collected a sample of the patient's blood to run tests as the diagnosis have yet to be determined.

After placing the clipboard back in its place at the foot of Henry's bed, the blonde doctor walked over to where the two mothers were waiting. In order to avoid being caught between the two adversaries, Doctor Whale figured it was best to talk to both ladies at the same time.

"Henry's vitals are stable now. We will continue to monitor him. We have also taken a sample of his blood to run some tests so that we know what we are dealing with."

Doctor Whale looked at both women expecting the typical reactions one would expect to see from mothers of a patient who was in a coma, but the two women who were known enemies to each other were calm. No questions. No tears. In fact, they acted like they couldn't wait for the doctor to leave. Which was exactly what was happening.

After lingering a minute too long at what was close to becoming a staring competition, the blonde doctor left the mothers to be alone with their unconscious son.

Emma lets out a breath.

"You're sure this will work?" the blonde asked Regina after Doctor Whale had closed the door behind him.

"It should work. It has to." that last part was more of a reassurance for herself.

The two of them rushed to the side of Henry's hospital bed, careful not to touch any of the many tubes and wires that were hooked onto him.

"Go ahead." Regina urged.

Emma leaned in to kiss her son on the forehead. Regina took a deep breath willing that the kiss would work.

The blonde took a step back to see if it worked.

Seconds went by. Nothing.

"That should have worked!" Regina began to panic.

"Why didn't it?!" Emma asked.

"I don't know… do it again."

Emma took a deep breath and kissed Henry again on the forehead, a little longer this time.

Still, nothing happened.

"It's not working!" Tears started streaming down the blonde's eyes as she wondered if this was Regina's idea of a cruel joke.

"Let me try."

The brunette half pushed Emma out of the way as she took the blonde's place. She leaned over and kissed Henry on the forehead.

The ten-year-old remained in his comatose state.

"No!" Regina began to sob. Her son's imminent death starting to become apparent.

"I don't know what you are playing at Regina, but you fix this!" the sheriff growled.

Just then, Regina remembered that magic was in Storybrooke before everything went back in time. She looked down at her son's pale face and placed a hand over his heart as she willed magic to heal the unconscious boy. She steadied her breath and focused on only healing her son.

Nothing was happening. Not even a slight tingle of magic.

"What are you doing?!" Emma demanded.

"I'm trying to heal him" the older woman answered, her hand still hovering over Henry, not leaving her sight off the boy. "Magic has come to Storybrooke. I can feel it in the air. I saw it appear before time rewind itself!"

"What do you mean has come? Come from where?!"

Regina was losing focus and starting to get annoyed with the blonde's questions. If she could use her magic at that moment she would have muted the sheriff before healing their son.

The mayor broke away from her concentration and turned to the other mother.

"Do you mind? I'm trying to concentrate." she huffed before turning back and continued the healing process. She furrowed her brow in concentration.

Both mothers silently waited for something, anything to happen.

"Work, damn it!" Regina shook her hand trying to shake out some magic in a manner akin to shaking a _Heinz_ ketchup bottle that was stuck.

Nothing. She let out a final guttural sound as she breathed out.

"Maybe you're wrong about there being magic?" Emma pointed out.

"Oh, there's definitely magic. I can sense it in the air. It's just that magic works differently here."

"What do we do now?"

"I don't know." Regina looked dejected. She hated not knowing what was happening. She saw Henry woke up from his coma before. She saw the curse broke from True Love's Kiss! She was at wit's end on how she was going to save her son.

Emma felt her anger starting up again. Just an hour ago, she was ready to leave her son behind in the care of his adoptive mother. She had given Regina her son but the woman had to go and create a stupid curse that could not be broken. She couldn't care if what Regina said about time turning back was true. Henry was still very much dying in front of them and she was not going to allow Regina to just do nothing about it.

"Everything you said about breaking the sleeping curse did not work."

The brunette snapped out of her daze. Emma sounded furious.

"What?"

"You said that a kiss worked last time."

"It did!"

"But it did not work this time. You did something."

Regina was taken aback by the accusation.

"Why would I try to kill my own son?!"

"I don't know. Maybe after Henry woke up, you realize that he did not want to be with you anymore. Maybe you think that if you couldn't have him, nobody else can. Just like Graham!"

The mayor's deep chocolate eyes grew wide. Regina was surprised that Emma even knew that she had killed the departed sheriff despite not being anywhere near him when she crushed his heart.

"How did you know I killed Graham?"

"So you admit it!"

"That was different," Regina said dismissively, "I would never do anything to hurt my son. I love him!"

"And you didn't love Graham?"

"What we had wasn't love!"

"I want you to leave and don't come back until you found a way to wake Henry up!"

The brunette wished that she could throw a fireball at Emma's face, but lucky for her, Regina couldn't even light a candle at the moment with the state of her magic. There was a lot of tension in that room. The mayor heeded the sheriff's request. It was useless to try to wake Henry up while the blonde was taking out her anger at her. She still had a few hours before her son's condition takes a turn for the worst.

Regina straightened her hair and walked out of the room reluctantly. She vowed to not rest until Henry Mills woke up from the curse.


	3. Chapter 2

**A/N:** Finally! Another chapter! I have written a few more chapters and they have all been beta read! Yay! I have an awesome beta reader! Thank you once again Chrimsonmoon!

* * *

Three hours had passed. Regina was growing tired. She had not had any sleep from the night before. She and Emma had been busy getting "True Love" from inside Maleficent's dragon form. Well, the blonde did all the work while the mayor managed to get herself gagged and tied up to a chair at the library by Rumplestiltskin. The very same man that taught her all she knew about magic.

When Emma and Regina sought his help the first time around, Rumple, or Mr Gold, as he was more familiarly known in town, double-crossed the two women by stealing "True Love". He was no doubt the one to bring magic into Storybrooke and the brunette could bet on her life that he was also the one who rewound time.

The Mayor knew better than to charge up to the Dark One who had recently regained his powers. Especially since she was unable to use hers. She had searched everywhere for her mother's spell book. It was the first book that introduced her to the world of magic but it was nowhere to be found.

She tried her best to stifle a yawn. Regina pinched the bridge of her nose and massaged around her eyes. Her eyelids were heavy like leaded doors, slowly closing. There was no use in forcing herself to look for answers in this state.

She sat down on one of her trunks and rest her head on one of the many tomes that she had laid open on a table in front of her. _Just a short nap,_ she finally relented to her body's plea to rest. The tired sorceress needed to recharge her energy before she could continue her search for a way to save her son.

*.*.*.*.*

Emma sat on a chair next to Henry, her hand holding on to her son's hand that did not have any IV drips attached. She barely left the boy's side since his other mother had left the hospital. She hoped that Regina would find a cure before it was too late. The mayor had mentioned that Henry only had until the morning before he dies. She looked out the window to see the daybreak. Time was running short. Henry's condition remained unchanged. The duty nurse had come in a couple of times during the night to see if there had been any improvements.

Emma contemplated calling Regina to see if she had found anything but she was still very much angry with the woman and also did not want to distract her from finding an antidote to the poison.

The blonde lets go of Henry's hand and took off her leather jacket to blanket her body with it. She leaned back into her seat and stretched her legs. She was getting tired staying up all night. She decided to rest her eyes for a while. She figured if anything changes, she would be able to know since she was right there next to her comatose son.

*.*.*.*.*

Regina's cell phone vibrated loudly against the surface of an open book. The brunette woke up suddenly at the sound. She rubbed her eyes before examining the screen of her phone. Twelve missed calls! How deep _was_ she sleeping?! She looked at the time, 7:30 a.m.

 _Shit!_ Regina thought to herself. It had been an hour since Henry was due to have died. She unlocked her phone and called Emma who had been trying to get hold of her for the past hour.

*.*.*.*.*

"Pick up! Pick up! Pick up!" Emma chanted as she listened to the dial tone.

Right next to her, Doctor Whale and a group of nurses frantically tried to revive Henry.

Emma turned to look at the scene before her. It wasn't as dramatic as the hospital shows on television but it was very heart-breaking to see. Her son was dying and there was nothing she could do but watch.

Doctor Whale handed the defibrillator pads to a nurse. He had already attempted to restart Henry's heart to the best of his ability.

"Time of death, 6:43 a.m." Doctor Whale declared.

Emma dropped her phone to the ground. She ran over to Henry and cradled his head in her arms.

The nurses had already removed all of the medical equipment the boy was attached to the night before.

"I'm really sorry for your lost, Emma." the attending doctor placed a hand on her shoulders for comfort.

Mother Superior pulled a blanket up to cover Henry's body up to his neck. Leaving his face exposed.

"I love you, Henry."

Tears streamed down from Emma's eyes as she kissed her son one last time.

*.*.*.*.*

"Where is Henry?! Where is my son?!" Regina cried.

"You're too late. He's already gone." Emma told the mayor.

The brunette moved past the blonde to see her son's body covered all the way to the head in blanket.

The older woman began to sob uncontrollably as Mother Superior peeled down the blanket revealing the boy's pale, still face.

"No! It's not supposed to end this way!" Regina threw her body over her son's corpse and sobbed into his shoulders. His body had already gone cold.

"They wanted to move him to the morgue but I told them to wait until you got here," Emma informed the brunette.

"Thank you," Regina said softly, her face still buried in her dead son's shoulders.

"I'm sorry, Regina. We need to move him to the morgue now." Mother Superior gently said to the weeping woman.

The brunette kissed her son's forehead for the last time before stepping away to let the nurses move the body.

"I failed him." the mayor said quietly to herself.

Emma walked over to the older woman and embraced her. They may have had their differences but one thing they had in common was their love for Henry.

"You did your best." the blonde reassured her.

"No… I fell asleep while looking for answers." Regina pushed Emma away, her heart heavy with guilt.

The blonde did not know what to do. They lingered in the room in silence.

"Do you need help with the funeral arrangements?" the sheriff finally asked.

"There is no need." Regina wiped her tears away. "If my suspicion is right, time will rewind itself and I won't stop until my son wakes up again."

Emma stared at the mayor like she was crazy.

With her declaration, Regina left the room to head back home. Maybe if she was back in Henry's room, time will rewind itself to 8:15 p.m. the previous night.

Regina took her position in Henry's room. She did the same thing as she did before with determination that the day would repeat itself and that she will have another chance at saving Henry, if it was the last thing she did.

She waited for an hour and time had not rewound. She was sure that it would but the time on Henry's alarm clock had kept moving forward past the time the cars she once saw going backwards. It was starting to sink into her that the day was carrying on.

Regina started to worry. She was confused as to why her son survived this ordeal in one moment and they had a do-over where he didn't make it. It didn't make any sense to her. The mayor lost her composure and started crying again. She laid down on her side in Henry's bed and grabbed his pillow imagining that it was her son.

The mayor had no idea how long she had been in that position crying. She didn't even hear the blonde entering her house until she walked into their son's room.

"I figured you may need some company." Emma offered.

Regina wasn't used to being exposed and vulnerable. She got up from the bed and composed herself.

"What I need is to be left alone, Miss Swan," she said to the blonde with her back facing the intruder.

"Sorry… A few of us will be at Granny's tonight to mourn Henry. You're welcome to join us."

"Are you seriously inviting me to mourn _my_ son?"

"He is loved by people in town. You don't have to come if you don't want to."

Regina remained in her spot, not looking at the blonde. Emma lingered in the room. This was the first time she stepped into Henry's room. She wished that she had the chance to spend time with her son in his room but Regina had always been possessive of her son.

"I've never been in his room ever since my first day here," Emma said, finally. "Is it okay if I stayed here for a while?"

The brunette wiped the tears from her face. She turned to face her son's biological mother.

"Sure." The mayor answered curtly before exiting the room. "When you're done, please see yourself out," Regina shouted from outside the door.

Emma turned to look at Henry's possession. The boy had everything any child could want. It was sad that he lived a short life feeling like he didn't belong.

The blonde needed one last reminder of her son. After Henry's funeral, she had decided to move back to Boston. There was nothing left for her there. Even if what Regina said about her parents were true, they are still asleep from the Dark Curse.

She opened Henry's desk drawer to find his walkie-talkie. The one he used for 'Operation Cobra'. Emma placed the radio in her back pocket before leaving the mayor's mansion.

*.*.*.*.*

Regina watched from outside the diner. Many of the townspeople had gathered inside to mourn her son. She couldn't help but beam with pride at the number of people Henry had touched. Even though people had feared her, they held a soft spot for the ten-year-old boy.

The brunette mustered some courage as she carried a pan of her special lasagne that she had made from scratch. Cooking had always helped calm her.

She took in a deep breath and turned the knob of the diner's door. As she stepped in, the scene before her had changed. She was no longer at Granny's anymore. She was back in Henry's room. The pan of lasagne she was holding changed into Henry's pillow.

Time had rewound once again. She turned to look at the clock, 8:15 p.m. and the cell phone in her pocket vibrated.


	4. Chapter 3

**A/N:** Last update for today. Will upload more in the next few days. Thank you so much to those who are following the story.

* * *

Regina did not bother answering the call she knew would be from Doctor Whale. She turned off her phone and proceeded out the door. She wanted answers and whenever something unusual occurred in town, she knew the one person who would know the answers; Mr. Gold or as he was known in the Enchanted Forest, Rumplestiltskin.

In Storybrooke, Mr. Gold was a wealthy man who owned many estates. He also ran a pawnshop called 'Mr. Gold Pawnshop & Antiquities Dealer'. The bells at the top of the door jingled as Regina entered the shop _._

The dimly lit store carried treasures collected from many deals made over hundreds of years as well as lost possessions from people living in the small town. The brunette looked around, Gold was not at the front of the shop.

"Gold?" she called out.

The mayor waited for the owner to come out from the back room. There didn't seem to be any indication that anybody would be coming out to meet her anytime soon. Regina was growing impatient.

Figuring that the older man probably didn't hear her come in, she decided to go to the back to look for him. She huffed as she started her stride to the back room, normally out of bounds to everybody who had no business being there.

"Regina." Mr Gold said as he entered the room, startling the mayor.

"Gold." the brunette greeted as she adjusted her coat subconsciously, collecting herself from her momentary fright.

"Is there something that you are looking for?"

The old man's grin was sinister with a glint in his eye that should make Regina shiver but she was all too familiar with the Dark One and kept her poker face on.

"There is something strange happening in town and I believe you know something about it."

"As mayor of Storybrooke, Regina, shouldn't you be the one to know all that is going on in this little town" Gold stated as a matter of fact.

"Cut the crap Rumple! I know you are behind this!" The mayor was not in the business of playing games.

"Whatever do you mean… dearie?" the shop owner said through gritted teeth.

Regina decided to move the conversation along. Her patience wearing thin.

"Time seems to repeat itself, Rumple, and I want to know why!"

Mr. Gold snickered.

"Having a little case of the déjà vu are we?" the corners of his lips curled up. His smile was so wide that the gold tooth on the bottom row of his teeth could be seen.

The brunette had just about had it with the imp! Even in his human form, he had the ability to get on her nerves. She stormed to the counter where Gold was standing behind and slammed her hands onto the countertop.

"You're behind this, aren't you?!" Regina did not have to wait for the answer as the stupid grin plastered on his face said it all. "Why?!" she demanded.

"Regina, there is someone that I want you to meet." Mr. Gold turned his head to the entrance of the back room. The brunette followed his gaze and finally spotted the young woman that had been lurking behind the curtains separating the two parts of the store, eavesdropping their conversation this whole time.

The jig was up. The woman Regina had held captive all those years in the tower of her castle in the Enchanted Forest and in the Psychiatric Ward in Storybrooke Hospital had returned back to her master turned lover, Rumplestiltskin.

The brunette kept her poker face on.

"You remember Belle don't you, Regina?"

The older woman backed a couple of steps slowly, preparing herself for whatever was to come. Although magic was in Storybrooke, she seemed incapable of channelling her powers. She wasn't sure if it was the same for the Dark One.

"How did you find her? I thought she was dead?" Regina kept up the farce. She did not know if Belle had told Rumple that it was her who had kept the redhead imprisoned while he thought that she was dead.

As powerful as Rumple was, he couldn't have possibly found her on his own as he believed she had died more than thirty years ago.

"She found her way back to me."

"Oh." the mayor averted her eyes.

The list of people who could have double-crossed her was not that long but she swore if she found the person responsible, they would have to pay.

"Imagine my surprise when I found out where she had been all these years."

Rumpelstiltskin walked around his counter and moved menacingly towards the mayor.

"I did not hurt her."

"No dearie," the old man closing the space between them, "What you did was far worst. That is why I've built a special prison just for you, one where you have to relive the tragedy that is the death of your son, over and over again!" He was now mere inches away from Regina's face.

Belle gasped. The brunette swallowed hard. She could feel the tears building. She clenched her fists, willing the tears to remain at bay.

The mayor turned on her heels and ran out of the store.

*.*.*.*.*

It had been three hours since Emma Swan had brought Henry to the hospital. Her son had since been stabilized but had not shown any signs of improvements.

"I'm sorry I doubted you, kid." The blonde's eyes had been stinging from hours of crying. She had loved her son deeply over the past few months of meeting him.

Emma whipped out her phone again, sending yet another text to Regina Mills.

 _Where the hell are you?!_

She scrolled through the messages she had sent to the brunette that night. Her initial texts had been threats directed at the older woman. It then moved on to be apologetic with pleads of asking the adoptive mother to see her son and then it moved on to concern of the brunette's whereabouts and finally frustration altogether.

Several attempts at calling the mayor had been futile as her phone had been off the entire night. The blonde had attempted to call the mayoral mansion a few times but Regina had not answered.

The sheriff sighed at the failed attempt to contact Henry's other mother. She placed the phone back into her back jeans pocket before blanketing her body with the red leather jacket and closing her eyes for a short nap.

*.*.*.*.*

Regina Mills massaged her temples. She was nose deep in magic books, flipping through pages after pages. All of them telling her the same thing; there was no way to break this spell.

Without True Love's Kiss, there was no way of waking Henry up and breaking the cycle. Regina channelled her old nemesis, Snow White, whom time and time again managed to defeat her plan with hope. If the insufferable princess could do it, so could she.

Realizing that she had been cooped up in her vault for hours, she decided to turn on her phone to check the time. Her phone beeped several times as her notification informed her of the many missed calls from the hospital and Emma and texts messages from the blonde.

She tapped on the messages icon to read the texts she had accumulated.

 **[08:32 p.m.]** _Regina! Come to the hospital now! Henry ate the apple turnover you poisoned!_

 **[08:51 p.m.]** _If Henry does not survive this, I swear to god, I'm coming after you!_

 **[09:12 p.m.]** _Why do you have your phone turned off?! This is an emergency! Come here when you see this!_

 **[09:36 p.m.]** _What the hell did you poison him with? Dr Whale does not believe that Henry is poisoned but I know you did something._

 **[09:58 p.m.]** _Henry is stable but his condition is deteriorating._

 **[10:20 p.m.]** _Let's set aside our differences. Henry needs you. Please come._

The brunette's heart ached. She knew what would happen if she did not find a way to break the curse. She ignored the rest of the unread messages from the blonde that were a mixture of inquiring about her whereabouts and pleas to call her back.

She opted to turn off her phone again and continued her search for a solution. She did not want to get distracted by some angry blonde nor did she want reminders of her son's impending doom.

Regina gathered up more books from her trunk and piled them onto the table top. She cracked open the one that was sitting on top of the pile and started flipping through the pages.

*.*.*.*.*

Belle walked through the dark hallway in Mr Gold's house which was a lot cosier as compared to his dark castle but equally as lonely. Not wanting to rush their relationship too fast, Rumpelstiltskin had offered the guest room for Belle to sleep in. The redhead was thankful that she was not affected by the curse and therefore did not have to wake up in the psych ward every single night. Unable to fall asleep after encountering Regina at the shop, Belle decided to talk to Rumple about it.

The guest bedroom was on the first floor while Rumple's room was in the master bedroom upstairs. She climbed the stairs carefully. The stairway was illuminated by soft nightlight along the walls. Belle was careful to not make too much noise so that she did not alarm the older man. She did not want Rumple to mistaken her for an intruder. She had seen how the Dark One dealt with intruders.

At the top of the stairs, she could see Rumple's room door was ajar at the end of the hallway. She slowly walked over and peered through the open door. She didn't need to turn on the lights to see that Rumple was not in bed. She wondered where he could be.

Belle remembered that sometimes back in the Enchanted Forest, when Rumple did not go to bed, he would be in his study, spinning straw into gold. He claimed that he did that to help him forget. The young woman had not had a chance to explore the whole house but she had noted that Rumple would probably spin somewhere where people would not see him.

She climbed back down the stairs and walked out of the front door and circled to the back of the house. She could see light seeping out of the basement window. She knelt down and took a closer look. Rumple had been spinning but the straw he spun turned into a normal thread. He looked very focus he did not even notice Belle watching him.

Rumpelstiltskin fed more straws into the machine, his concentration on the output of string from the spinning wheel. Never once did he break his focus from the string. The redhead stayed a while longer, watching her lover.

Moments later, Rumple stopped the wheel. He took a closer look at the thread in his hand. He had successfully spun straw into gold. Belle gasped. The older man snipped the ordinary thread from the gold and carried on with his straw spinning with a huge smile on his face.

The younger woman knew what this meant. Rumpelstiltskin was now able to use his power. This would not be good news to anybody. She got off the ground and went back to her room. She had no idea what the man was planning but she knew that she will find out soon enough.


	5. Chapter 4

The mayor struggled to keep her eyes open. She was too tired to decipher the ancient elvish language used in most of the magic books she had. Her eyes were getting blurry. She rubbed them, forcing herself to stay awake.

Figuring that she was going to relive the same day over and over, there wasn't much of a rush to end the curse. Leaving the books scattered all over the dark vault, Regina puts on her coat and headed home.

Just as she was about to climb the steps to exit the mausoleum, the sorceress stopped herself. She closed her eyes and willed magic to come out as she waved her hands over her body, thinking about her bedroom at home.

Feeling that nothing happened, she opened her eyes to check. She grumbled when she found herself exactly where she was a second ago. She stomped up the stairs and pushed her father's coffin back in its place before exiting the mausoleum.

This would be a lot easier once she was able to practice magic again but until then, she had to move around town the ordinary way; driving a car.

It would only be a mere hour or two before Henry's death. All Regina could think of doing was to catch up on sleep. She got into her 1986 Mercedes-Benz 560 SL, half considering just crashing in the backseat. She shook away the thought and started the engine before driving off. She will tackle the books again once she had a good rest.

*.*.*.*.*

Regina awoke to the sound of banging on her front door. She rubbed the sleep out of her eyes and glanced at the alarm clock. 9:48 a.m... She had slept in, catching up on much-needed rest. The pounding on the door was starting to get on her nerves.

At the umpteenth bang, she finally got out of her bed and put on a robe. When she got home earlier, she managed a quick shower before putting on her silk pyjamas. She took her time going down the spiral staircase of her large mansion, her body stiff from bending over books for long periods of time.

The rhythmic banging sounded persistent, not so much desperation but more of anger.

The mayor had finally reached the door that was threatening to break at its hinges. She ran her fingers through her shoulder length hair to smooth it out. Looking presentable was important to maintain her image as mayor of Storybrooke. She turned the knob and opened the door.

"Don't you ever answer your phone?!" Emma Swan said as she entered the house uninvited, pushing past the shocked brunette.

The blonde looked a mess. Her hair was dishevelled, her mascara smudged, she looked like she had been crying for hours. She probably had since Henry would have passed on not too long ago.

Regina had almost forgotten about the curse. She had turned off her cell phone last night and was focused on finding a way out of her predicament. She could see that the sheriff was visibly upset and would no doubt take the anger out on the brunette. She would have none of that in her expensive home.

"Emma, I know what this is about. We need to talk." The older woman gestured for the blonde to enter the sitting room. Regina closed the door before trailing the sheriff.

*.*.*.*.*

"So let me get this straight, you are the Evil Queen, you poisoned our son with a sleeping curse, which killed him, but I actually managed to wake him up before with a kiss, but Mr. Gold who is actually Rumplestiltskin, who is an evil sorcerer known as the Dark One, had put a "Groundhog Day" type curse on the whole town because you kidnapped his girlfriend who is Belle?"

"Yes!" Regina was relieved the blonde had finally got it.

The sheriff got off her chair and started heading out the door. The brunette frowned and followed her.

"Where are you going?" the mayor inquired.

"I'm leaving. You are not making any sense."

"Miss Swan, I assure you that everything I said was the truth."

Emma turned to look at Regina's face. She could always tell when the mayor was lying but it was clear that she wasn't.

The blonde was having a hard time wrapping her head around this whole information. The brunette who was now standing in front of the sheriff moved closer to Emma and took the younger woman's hand in hers.

"I promise you that this is the truth. Our son will keep dying over and over again until I find a way to break the curse."

The sincerity in Regina Mills' voice was new to Emma. There was a level of vulnerability she had never witnessed from the brunette before.

"Have you gotten far?" Emma inquired. Finally taking the mayor's words seriously.

"Not really. All the books said that there was no way to break the curse."

Saying those words out loud made her eyes well up with tears. She still looked tired despite getting some rest.

Emma was unsure of how to react. On one hand, it was all Regina's fault. On the other, the woman before her was the mother of her son. She helped raise Henry and clearly loved him. She needed time to process the whole bizarre situation.

"Have you tried magic?" the blonde suggested.

"I've been trying to get my magic to work but it does not seem to." The mayor looked defeated which was a new look for the sheriff to see.

"How did you do magic the first time?"

"I had my mother's book…" At that, the mayor started walking to her study.

Emma was caught off guard as she was about to lean back into the doorway. She bounced her back against the wall and pushed herself forward before tailing Regina.

This had only been the second time Emma Swan had set foot in Regina Mills' study. The first time was when they first met.

The mayor frantically looked through her collection of books, pulling them out of the shelves.

"What does it look like?" The blonde asked as she approached a different bookshelf.

"What?" Regina broke away from her concentration and turned to the blonde. Almost forgetting she was not alone in the room.

"Your mother's book. What does it look like?"

Regina was not used to anybody helping her. She had always had to do things herself or commanded her henchmen or manipulated someone into helping her. Having somebody offering assistance voluntarily seems a lot less of a hassle.

"It is small with gold corners and clasps, a ruby heart stone on the front cover."

 _Seem unique enough_. Emma nodded her head in comprehension and proceeded her search on her side of the room.

The blonde glanced at the titles, 'Lady Chatterley's Lover', 'Green Hat', 'Women in Love'… 'The Great Gatsby'!

She flipped open the last one. The books had dog earmarks. Regina had a huge collection of old romance novels and had been reading them! Emma thought that rich people always had rows of fake books as decorations or that the books were real but they did not really read those books. Regina, on the other hand, had read her vintage leather bound romance novels.

The blonde pictured nights where the mayor would sip a glass of apple cider and read the pages of these books in bed.

Emma glanced at the brunette across the room and smiled to herself before carrying on with her search.


	6. Chapter 5

**A/N:** Just want to point out that the main pairing in this story will be SwanQueen. Whether or not RumBelle continues to be a thing or if Belle/Ruby ends up together is secondary to the story. Even though I have an outline for the whole story, subplots tend to change as I write so there isn't any promises. I leave it open and let the story speak to me. I want to make sure that the flow makes sense. I do not want to force anything. That being said, I hope it does not deter anybody from enjoying the story.

* * *

The town line was on the one stretch of road that connected to the rest of Maine. It was the only way in and out of Storybrooke. There were no street lights along the road, just the 'Welcome to Storybrooke' sign that sat at the edge of town. The road was illuminated by Gold's car headlights and the full moon.

The pawn shop owner sat in his car that was parked a few feet from the town line. _This is it!_ He thought to himself. He did not bother waiting until the next morning to leave town. He had already waited more than a century to be reunited with his son, he couldn't wait a second longer. Belle glanced at the older man. He had been quiet the entire drive and seemed to have a lot of things on his mind.

Ever since she woke up from the curse, her days with Rumpelstiltskin seemed to only be a tiny step up from living in a psych ward. She was living in his house but she barely spent much time with him. In the daytime, he would be at the back of the shop mixing potions and at night he would be in the basement spinning straws into gold.

They hadn't even discussed their relationship yet. In the Enchanted Forest, the two of them had fallen in love after months of being the Dark One's servant. Belle saw something in Rumple, something human. The sorcerer had allowed Belle to leave the castle to run an errand expecting that she would not return but the young servant met the Evil Queen on the road who told her that True Love's Kiss could break the curse that turned Rumpelstiltskin into the Dark One. The kiss had almost worked but Rumple chose power instead of love. He told the young redhead to leave the castle and she did. It was Regina, the Evil Queen, who told Rumpelstiltskin that the servant had killed herself after being tortured for her association with the Dark One.

Belle did not get a chance to see much of this new world they were in. She felt like she was back to being Rumpelstiltskin's maid, trapped in the Dark One's abode, cleaning up his home. She was surprised when Rumple suddenly packed both of their clothes in suitcases. He told her that he had finally located his son in a place called New York. She could only imagine the place to be a similar town like Storybrooke with metal carriages and stone buildings.

The locks on the car doors unlocked and Gold opened the driver's side door and stepped out. He took his time to plant both feet on the ground. After bringing magic back into Storybrooke, he no longer needed to rely on his walking cane.

He got out of his car and walked towards the town line. While the curse was still in effect, anybody in town who attempted to cross the town line would be stopped by the curse except for Regina as she was the one to cast the curse. Whatever that was beyond the line was new and unpredictable. He had no idea if his curse had any effect on him. He wanted to be sure and not risk crashing his car against the welcome sign like Emma did her first night in town.

Upon reaching the edge of town, Gold slowly stretched out his hand and took careful steps forward as though he was looking for a wall in a dark room. He only managed four steps before he was thrown back. He yelped at the excruciating pain. Belle gasped. She struggled to open the car door, pushing and pulling every part of it before finding the lever that opens the door. She ran over to her lover who was in the midst of standing up.

"What happened?" the redhead inquired.

"It appeared that the curse had built a wall on the town line. Nobody will be able to leave the town while the curse is still in effect." Gold explained.

"Did you know that this would happen?"

"Does it look like I did?" irritation was apparent in his voice.

"I guess this is the price you have to pay for enacting this curse."

The older man did not require a lecture from his former help. He turned to his girlfriend. "I'll find a way around this."

"Why don't you just lift the curse?"

Rumple scoffed. "If I do that, Regina wouldn't learn her lesson. Nobody messes with Rumpelstiltskin."

Belle silently looked away. The older man could see that he was taking his anger out on her.

"Look, Belle, Regina locked you up for so many years. I'm only making sure that she won't do anything to you again." He reasoned.

"But you are using her son to hurt her _and_ making everybody else stuck in the same time loop!"

"Knowing Regina, she will break the curse… eventually." He couldn't help grinning wickedly at that statement.

"If I have to be stuck in reliving the same day over and over again, I don't want to be anywhere near you!" the young woman turned on her heels and started to storm off.

"Belle! Where are you going?"

"To get far away from you!" She yelled, not bothering to turn around to look at the old man standing in the middle of an empty road.

*.*.*.*.*

After failing to find Cora's spell book, Regina thought that she could engage the sheriff's help to look through her magic books in case she missed out on something. It took her two days to find an easy way to convince the ever sceptical, Emma Swan, to help her immediately when the day resets itself.

The moment Regina appeared in her son's bedroom, she hauled herself to her car and drove like a mad woman down to the hospital. She did not bother parking the car. She just kills the engine and removed her keys before heading inside to look for the blonde.

Once inside, she braced herself from being tossed around in the storage room. She blocked Emma's hand from grabbing her and instead pushed the blonde into the storage room. Once she got in there, she pinned the blonde against the wall and covered the sheriff's mouth.

"We don't have much time. I need you to calm down and listen to what I'm about to tell you." Regina would start saying calmly despite the manhandling she did earlier.

"Everything Henry told you about the curse is true." This always made the sheriff's eyes grow wide.

The mayor slowly released her grip on Emma and continued. "I'm sorry I tried to poison you and ended up poisoning him instead. But we have managed to wake him up before."

"What do you mean before?" The blonde would always ask.

"The dark curse I cast twenty-eight years ago was already broken by you. Henry dies and you kissed him back to life, breaking my curse as well. But there is a new curse now that I've not been able to break, cast by the same man who created the dark curse."

"Who?"

"Rumpelstiltskin, but over here he is known as… Mr. Gold."

Emma would stand there, slacked jaw. Initially, Regina would wait for the inevitable 'why' from the blonde but she was tired of having the same conversations over and over again.

"He wanted to punish me for something I did to him way before the curse was cast." The sheriff opened her mouth to say something but the brunette cut her off. "Yes, I know I shouldn't have messed with him and yes I know this is all my fault. No, I do not have magic to break the curse… at least not yet. I need your help to find a way to break this curse. Come with me."

The blonde watched as the mayor walked out of the storage room. She silently followed behind, confused as to what was going on and how Regina knew all the questions she was going to ask.

The drive to the cemetery was always quiet as Emma was still confused and unable to process what was happening. She would find herself opening her mouth as if to say something but shut it again because she did not know where to begin.

Upon reaching the vault, Regina gathered the books they had not looked through and piled a few in front of the blonde, taking mental note of the titles so that they don't waste any time looking through the same books again. She didn't have many books that were written in English so she still had to do the bulk of the research herself. She wished she had Belle on her side because the redhead is an avid reader and could read many languages including elvish.

After the fifth day of going through this routine, they had managed to look through all the magic books Regina owned, cover to cover. They did not find anything new. The mayor pushed the pile of books off the trunk. They made a huge thud as they hit the ground.

"Regina! It's okay… we'll find a way." Emma placed her hand on the brunette's arm, consoling her.

"This is pointless without my magic." Regina looked into the blonde's eyes.

"Do you know how to get it back?"

The brunette nods her head yes. "My mother's book… but I don't have it."

"Oh." Emma did not know what to do in this situation. The whole thing was odd for her. They stood there in silence, looking at the ground, feeling defeated.

"I think I know who has it. But we need a plan to get it." Regina said all of a sudden.

The brunette was interrupted by the sound of Emma's cell phone ringing.

*.*.*.*.*

Belle knew that this world was strange to her and that she had no idea where she was going but she knew that the vengeful man she left at the town line was not the man she fell in love with.

She stopped at a junction in the middle of town. A huge clock tower caught her attention. It was almost midnight. Most of the town was quiet save for a few random townspeople either heading home or out to the local bar. She wondered what was underneath the clock tower. She could see the windows were boarded up.

Curiosity got the better of her. She crossed the road to investigate the building further. She was thankful for the bright street light that bled through the gaps in the boarded up window. On the other side of the glass were old pieces of newspaper taped up. She cupped her hands on either side of her face and peered through a gap where a sheet of the newspaper had peeled off. _Books!_

To say that Belle was passionate about books would be an understatement. She lived for them ever since she was a little girl.

The bookworm walked towards the front door. A huge 'ENTRANCE' sign displayed prominently above two huge white double doors that were chained up. She took a few steps back and looked up. 'STORYBROOKE FREE PUBLIC LIBRARY' clearly displayed below the clock tower.

 _A library!_ Belle thought to herself. She had found a new purpose in her life, to find a way to access the books that were being held hostage behind the locked doors.

"Hey! Are you new here?" a sweet soft voice came out of nowhere startling the redhead. Belle turned to see who it was.

Her jaw dropped at the sight before her, a tall, slender brunette with red streaks in her long dark hair, a shirt tied in the front revealing pale skin in the midriff and short jean cut-offs with knee-high boots. She wondered how the younger woman standing before her could withstand the cold weather wearing those clothes if you could even call them that.

"Erm… yeah. It's my first time here in town." It wasn't a complete lie, she had only just had the opportunity to explore the town.

"I'm Ruby." The tall bubbly woman held out her hand to shake Belle's. The redhead reciprocated the handshake.

"Belle." They released their grip.

"Welcome to Storybrooke!"


	7. Chapter 6

**A/N: Another chapter update. I hope you guys are enjoying the story so far. Do leave some feedback, I really appreciate it.**

* * *

Ruby looked up from the table she had been serving and saw the redhead from the night before wandered into the diner.

Belle had spent the night at the inn after the brunette convinced Granny to allow her to stay for free until she could get hold of her family back in California to help her sort out the issue of her lost belongings and identity card; a lie Ruby concocted that even Granny knew was a lie but it was really late and the young woman seemed nice and polite. She didn't mind letting her stay just this once.

They smiled at each other across the room. The waitress walked over to Belle.

"Good morning, sleepy head!" Ruby teased. The diner had already started serving lunch an hour ago.

"Thank you for letting me sleep here. I can't remember the last time I had a good night's rest."

Belle had spent months in Rumpelstiltskin's castle back in the Enchanted Forest. The cot she slept on was very uncomfortable and filled with straws. When Regina kept her locked up in the Evil Queen's castle tower, all she had were a slightly more comfortable cot. The hospital bed at the psychiatric ward was not too bad but screams from the other patients kept her up a lot. Gold's house had a very comfortable bed but Belle had stayed up all night for the past few nights worrying about what Rumpelstiltskin was up to.

The Granny's Inn was a pleasant change. It was cosy and homey. It reminded the redhead of her mother's summer cottage in the countryside back in the Enchanted Forest. Her newfound freedom was refreshing. The only way the day could have been perfect was if she had a book to read.

"Have a seat. I'll be right with you."

Ruby disappeared into the kitchen continuing her waitressing duties. Belle chose an empty booth to sit in and picked up the menu. She found a lot of the food was new to her.

She flipped the pages a few times before finally deciding on a hamburger sandwich with a side of fries, _whatever that was_. The lanky brunette came back to take her order.

"Any drinks for you?"

Belle stared at the menu again, puzzled as to what a soda even was. The waitress noticed that the redhead was starting to panic. She gently touched the bewildered customer's shoulder and smiled sweetly at her as she decided to help her out.

"How about a homemade iced lemon tea? It's very refreshing and we make them fresh." Ruby suggested.

"Okay." Belle did not know why but she seems to trust her new friend.

"I'll be right back with your order." The brunette winked as she collected the menu from the redhead and sauntered back to the kitchen, swaying her hips that were covered in a tight miniskirt.

*.*.*.*.*

Emma and Regina received news of Henry's critical condition. Even though the mayor had already explained the curse to her, Emma still felt the need to be with Henry. Regina offered to drive her back to the hospital since her car was parked in the hospital parking garage.

"Aren't you gonna come up and see Henry?" the sheriff asked, leaning in the passenger side window.

"I've been through this before. I can't see him in that condition again… you go ahead. I'll meet you later at the diner." Regina watched the blonde disappear into the entrance of the hospital and drove off.

She decided to go home and have a shower before going to the diner to meet the sheriff to discuss their next course of action.

The brunette had not had a chance to just sit and enjoy a proper meal. She barely ate much the past few days. Opting to have a couple of sandwiches and lots of coffee. She was running low on energy and the exhaustion and hunger had finally caught on to her.

Regina stripped out of her three-piece suit and placed them neatly on a hanger to be sent to the dry cleaners even though she would be wearing the same suit within the next 12 hours. Some semblance of normalcy was needed. She proceeded into her en-suite bathroom. The brunette looked into her mirror. Her eyes had developed dark rings around them and her face looked sunken. She had neglected to take care of herself trying to beat the curse.

The mayor turned on the tap at the sink and washed the makeup off her face. She welcomed the contact of water to her skin. After rinsing her face, she gripped the edges of her sink, finally feeling the toll of her long hours of neglecting sleep and food. Her body ached, her neck felt stiff. She rubbed her shoulder to ease the pain. She needed to end the curse before it destroyed her.

Shedding the rest of her clothing, she dropped them onto the floor of the bathroom, too tired to bother about cleanliness anymore. She wished she could just soak in the bathtub and relax but she had to meet the blonde in an hour.

She entered her shower and turned the water on, letting the warm water flow down her pale skin. Regina closed her eyes and allowed herself to enjoy the shower a little bit more before soaping her body and washing her hair with shampoo.

The mayor rinsed off the suds from her body and turned off the shower. She stepped out of her shower, water dripping on the tiles of her bathroom. The brunette grabbed her towel from a towel rack nearby and proceeded to dry her wet body. She glanced at the full length standing mirror at the corner of her bathroom noticing visible weight loss. She needed to take great care of herself, falling sick will delay ending the curse.

She wrapped the towel around her body and walked out of the bathroom. She picked out a t-shirt, a vest and a pair of jeans from the closet. There was no need to be formally dressed for what she needed to do.

*.*.*.*.*

"You look like you've never had a hamburger before," Ruby said as she slid into the seat opposite Belle in the booth.

The redhead almost spat out her food. She wiped the sauces that stained the corners of her lips with her fingers.

"This is delicious!" Belle exclaimed.

"I'm glad you enjoyed it." The brunette smiled to herself.

Ruby had definitely taken an interest in the mysterious woman before her who showed up in the middle of town with nowhere to go and no belongings with her. She felt like a part of her could relate to the redhead even though she had lived with her grandmother her whole entire life. The waitress felt like she could connect with Belle somehow.

"Do you have any plans for today?" the bubbly waitress inquired.

"Not really…" The two women were engrossed in their conversation that they did not notice a figure approaching the table.

A hand swung into Belle's iced lemon tea, causing her dress to be covered in the icy beverage. She yelped as the liquid began soaking through the fabric of her clothing.

She looked up to see an apologetic blonde who had accidentally knocked over the drink, frantically trying to dry the redhead with paper napkins she took from an empty table nearby.

"I'm really, really sorry!" said the blonde.

"It's okay, Emma." Ruby got up from her seat and helped Belle get out of the booth. She handed the drenched woman a rag from her apron.

"Belle, you can go dry off in the bathroom at the back. I'll get you something to change into." The redhead hurried off to the bathroom.

Emma stood by sheepishly, letting the two woman handle the situation. Once Belle had gone to the bathroom, the waitress turned to the sheriff.

"Are you okay?"

"Yep." Came the reply from Emma as she turned around and walked out the door.

Ruby was stunned at the change of demeanour. It was as if the blonde had intentionally done it on purpose.


	8. Chapter 7

**A/N: The last beta read chapter will be uploaded tomorrow. After that the updates will take a while to be uploaded. I am working on Chapter Ten at the moment while my beta reader, Crimsonmoon is working on editing my Chapter Nine. Will upload Chapter Nine once it had been vetted. I'm really enjoying writing this story even though I know the outcome, I am still open to make some changes because sometimes new options presents itself and it's like a very interesting journey.**

 **Anyways, enjoy!**

* * *

Earlier that morning, Regina had spent close to an hour waiting for the blonde to meet her at the diner. She half wished she had opted for a bath instead of a shower but she didn't want to rush the Sheriff as seeing Henry die was a lot to process. She decided to use the time to think of a plan to get her mother's spell book from the Dark One.

She knew that going straight to Gold was not an option. He had made it really clear that he wanted her to suffer this curse. It would have been easier if she had the location of the book then maybe she could try to get it while the old man was away.

Just as she was sipping her black coffee, she overheard Grandmother Lucas and her granddaughter, Ruby, arguing over Belle. The mayor eavesdropped on their conversation.

"Do you even know where she's from?" the old woman asked curtly.

"It doesn't matter! It's not like she is a _serial killer_ or anything!" the waitress exclaimed. Half the diner turned at the word 'serial killer'.

"That girl is clearly running away from something and from my experience that never turns out well." Ruby's grandmother replied as she threw up her hands in exasperation and exited into the kitchen.

The lanky waitress grumbled and grabbed the two plates of food sitting on the counter.

 _Belle has left Rumple!_ Regina thought to herself. She can use this to her advantage. She waited patiently for Emma to come from the hospital.

Emma finally appeared, looking sullen and pale as death. The blonde's eyes swept across the diner, spotting the mayor sitting at a corner table near the glass window.

The sheriff dragged her tired frame over to where Regina sat and dropped herself onto the seat across from the brunette. She was exhausted. The weight of seeing the cold kiss of death on her son's face weighed heavily upon her shoulders.

"Emma, why don't you order? You'll feel a little better once you've eaten." Regina gently suggested to the miserable blonde.

Emma nodded in agreement and the mayor waved to Ruby, who sashayed over, a notepad and a pencil in hand.

"The usual, Emma?" Ruby asked even before the blonde opened her mouth.

"Yeah… extra cream and extra cinnamon on the cocoa." The sheriff smiled weakly.

"Sure thing, Em! Anything else for you Madame Mayor?" Ruby turned to Regina sweetness dripping out of her smile.

"No, I'm fine, thanks." The mayor replied dismissively.

The waitress shrugged and left the table, leaving Regina to her coffee and Emma to her thoughts.

The two women sat in silence as they waited for Emma's order to arrive. Minutes later, the bubbly waitress returned with a plate of steaming hot grilled cheese sandwiches, a cup of black coffee and a cup of hot cocoa with extra whipped cream and extra cinnamon.

Ruby laid out the plate of food and the cocoa in front of Emma and placed the black coffee in front of the mayor. Regina raised an eyebrow at the extra cup of coffee.

"The one you're nursing looks cold," Ruby said with a smile. She seemed extra cheery than usual despite the argument that morning with her grandmother. The older woman nodded her thanks and the waitress left the table.

Emma absentmindedly stirred her drink in silence. Regina let the grieving mother mourn her son's death. She leaned back and looked out the window, hoping the quiet provided the blonde with the space she needed.

After the sheriff had adequately processed her feelings over her son's death and drank half of her cocoa, she looked up at the brunette before her and took a deep breath.

"So… you said you have a plan to bring him back?" Emma asked.

Regina looked up into the blonde's deep green eyes. They were hardened with pain. The brunette nodded and slowly but meticulously began to explain her plan to get the magic book while the blonde took a bite out of her now cold grilled cheese sandwich.

"You want me to do _what?!_ " Emma nearly choked on her sandwich.

"Emma, please… I know Gold has the book and this may be the only way to get it." The mayor pleaded. "We'll wait for Belle to come to the diner and have her meal.

She has never met you before so it'll be perfect." Regina continued in a hushed whisper as she noticed Ruby glance over to their table in curiosity.

"So you want me to get her to the bathroom?" the sheriff asked incredulously.

"Yes. Spill her drink or something. Be creative!" the mayor rolled her eyes. "I'll be waiting there to _talk_ to her."

Emma didn't like the way Regina said the word 'talk'.

"Which one is she then?"

The two women looked around.

"I'm guessing she hasn't come down from her room yet." The brunette concluded.

They decided to wait for the redhead to make an appearance.

*.*.*.*.*

"This is weird," Emma said after finishing her breakfast.

It had been an hour since the sheriff came in to sit with Regina, and she was starting to feel nervous being in the brunette's company so casually.

"What is it, dear? I thought this was what you do for a living as a bail bondsperson." Regina retorted, raising a perfectly arched eyebrow.

"No… us… we spent the last few months fighting over Henry and now we are…" Emma wasn't sure how to word what they were doing together.

"Well… at the moment you are not at the top of my enemy list. I reserve that spot for the jerk who cast this curse."

"Truce?" the sheriff offered.

Regina indicated her reply with a warm smile.

"Can I ask you something?" Emma wasn't sure if this would be too heavy of a topic for small talk.

"Sure."

"What happened the first time around? When I woke Henry up?"

The brunette's brown eyes turned into dark orbs, recalling the moment her dark curse was broken.

"Everybody woke up. They remembered who they were… who I was." She paused, her face stoic. "I had to go into hiding. I knew that sooner or later the whole town would be after me."

Emma nodded her understanding.

The mayor may never admit to it but she preferred being a mayor to the quaint town than being the Evil Queen. The townspeople may fear her but she felt important. Almost like the queen she wanted to be.

"And… Henry?" concern was evident in the blonde's voice.

"He wouldn't want to be the son of the Evil Queen." Emma could sense the heartbreak from the woman before her.

"Did he say that you?"

"He didn't need to."

"But you're his mother."

Regina's snapped her head up, surprised that her rival was on her side. She wasn't expecting Henry's other mother, whom she had tried to ruin time and time again, to be kind to her.

The two of them shared a look. This was the first time the mayor felt cared for since… Daniel. In a way, the blonde did remind her of her first love, Daniel, the stable boy.

"Well, I'd still take that future, as long as Henry is alive and well again, even if it means that he hates me," Regina replied, tearing her eyes away from the blonde to gaze out the window again.

Emma's brows furrowed. For the first time, she felt that the cold, intimidating woman that she had once so hated, might actually, be growing on her. Did this ice queen before her, actually have a heart.

Emma smirked to herself and picked up her cup of cocoa and decided to change the subject.

They sat there for a couple of hours drinking hot cocoa and coffee as they shoot the breeze, waiting for Rumpelstiltskin's girlfriend to show up.

*.*.*.*.*

Regina waited for the redhead in a corridor that connected the diner to the inn. Her plan was finally underway as the redhead had finally made an appearance at Granny's. The brunette had snuck out of the diner stealthily when she saw Belle come into the main dining area. She peered around the corner, giving Emma the signal to proceed.

The brunette saw the sheriff approach the target's table. Regina got back into position behind the wall and pressed her back against it. She could hear the commotion. She got herself ready, anticipating the redhead to fall into her trap.

As Belle walked into the corridor where the brunette was, heading towards the bathroom, Regina reached out her hand and pierced through the redhead's back. She wrapped her fingers around beating heart and pulled it out. She was pleased that despite not being able to perform magic, she was still able to rip hearts out.

Belle gasped as she felt a tightening in her chest. She turned around to see Regina holding a heart in her hand… her heart! Before the redhead could say anything, the brunette placed a finger to her own lips and hushed her. Belle could not use her voice.

"Go into the bathroom," Regina whispered into the heart.

The redhead felt herself involuntarily walk into the bathroom. Regina followed her in and locked the door behind them. Belle tried desperately to protest but the more she struggled, the tighter the grip was on her larynx.

The brunette closed the gap between them. The two women were now standing face to face.

"I'm sorry I have to do this, Belle, but I don't have any other option," Regina said as she loosened her grip on the heart, releasing the pain from the young woman's chest.

Belle struggled to talk. The mayor mentally chided herself for temporarily forgetting how her magic worked and commanded the redhead to speak.

"What do you want from me?!" Belle asked exasperatedly, relieved to be able to talk again but fearing for her life all the same.

"I need something of mine from that 'boyfriend' of yours… I need some leverage… you." Regina replied, looking rather pleased with herself. It was quite a thrill to have that sort of power again.

"He is not my _boyfriend!_ He…"

"However you label your relationship does not concern me." The brunette cut her off.

"I need my mother's spell book so that I can use my magic to break the curse."

"I have a better idea," Belle replied, her mind racing fast as she thought of a way to get herself out of this new ensnarement that she had found herself in.

The mayor raised an eyebrow.

"Yes?"

"Rumple tried to leave town last night to go find his son."

Belle divulged quickly, she needed to show Regina she was much more useful alive than dead.

The brunette whipped her head up to look at Belle, the lines in her brow deepening with confusion.

"This new curse built a wall along the town line. _Nobody_ is able to leave this town. Not even Rumple!" Belle explained, biting her lip in hopes that this information was enough to save her life.

 _Serves him right!_ Regina smiled to herself.


	9. Chapter 8

**A/N: This is the last update for now. If you want to be alerted when the next chapter comes out, make sure you click on "Follow Story". The next few chapters will finally deal with the curse itself. If you want to see other ships sailing alongside SwanQueen, you may need to read til the end of the story to find out what other ships will join in. As I said before, I don't promise anything more than SwanQueen. I let the story lead me to whom Belle will end up with... I'm banking on books myself... Enjoy! :D**

* * *

"So this means, he needs me to break the curse so that he can be reunited with his son!" the mayor smiled, amused.

"Exactly! You don't need my heart! You can use this information to get him to help you break the curse." Belle hoped she was convincing enough to persuade Regina from using her.

The brunette snickered.

"You really think the _Dark One_ will willingly help me? He was the one who cast the curse to punish me!"

A sudden knock on the door interrupted the two women in the bathroom.

"Belle? You okay in there?" Ruby asked on the other side of the door.

The redhead was unsure of what to do. She wished she could somehow communicate her distress to the waitress without getting her heart crushed. Her pleading eyes looked deep into Regina's.

The mayor turned her head to the door and back again to Belle. She needed the bookworm alive and she did not want anybody to interfere with her mission. She pushed the heart she was holding back into the redhead's chest causing the young woman to gasp at the sensation of having her heart back in her body.

"Belle?" The waitress' concerned voice could be heard through the door.

"Just a second!" Belle finally replied.

She was not expecting to get her heart back so easily. She stood there dumbfounded as the mayor positioned herself behind the door.

Regina noticed that Belle had not moved from her spot. She signalled for the redhead to open the door. Belle complied. She turned the doorknob and peeked her head through the opening.

"I brought you a t-shirt and a pair of jeans to change into," Ruby said as she handed the clothing to the redhead.

"Thanks! Belle was truly thankful that the clothes looked comfortable and was not overly revealing like what the waitress had on.

She closed back the door after Ruby had left her to change. Her moment of relief was short-lived as she made eye contact with the former Evil Queen.

"Get changed. I'll meet you behind the diner." Regina commanded before sneaking out of the bathroom.

*.*.*.*.*

Mr Gold returned to his store after his failed attempt to go to New York City. He was up all night at the back of his store thinking of ways to bypass the curse to break through the barrier put up by the curse that prevented him from leaving town.

He wasn't too bothered about Belle as he figured she will return after getting her anger out of her system. She didn't have anywhere else to go and she was just as trapped by the curse as he was.

He needed his revenge so badly, he didn't care that the woman he lost for almost three decades had walked out on him after being back in his life for the past few days.

Rumple mixed potions even though he knew there was no other way to leave town when the curse was still in effect. He would rather use the Dark One's dagger to kill himself than help Regina break the curse.

He carefully poured a solution into a vial. He then dropped a piece of gold thread in the same vial. Never taking his eyes off the bottle, he waited for something to happen. Seconds had passed. Nothing.

He should hand it to himself, he had succeeded in creating a much darker curse than the Dark Curse.

Rumpelstiltskin threw the vial against the wall shattering the glass. He walked out of the back room and into his store. He slid behind his counter and removed a painting that hung on the wall, revealing a safe.

The old man turned the combination of the safe until he had unlocked it. He carefully opened the door. There was nothing much in the safe. To an average person, the safe is full of worthless junk, but to Mr Gold, the items were precious. A chipped teacup, a few vials of potions and an item he had kept for centuries, an old shawl belonging to his long-lost son.

"I'll find you, Bae."

*.*.*.*.*

"How did it go?" Emma asked the mayor as she exited the back door of the diner. "Where's Belle?" the blonde was confused that Regina was meeting her alone.

"There is a slight change of plan." The brunette deadpanned.

"Did you leave her tied up in the bathroom?" the sheriff joked.

The mayor rolled her eyes. She did not give the blonde any amusement by reacting to the insinuation. Although, if it turned out that Belle had screwed her over, she would do worse than leave her tied up in a bathroom.

Despite the joke Emma made, Regina was glad that the sheriff was in a better mood convincing her son that morning.

Minutes later, the back door of the diner opened and Belle walked out of the diner wearing an oversized grey 'Granny's Diner' t-shirt and skinny jeans.

"Belle, meet Emma Swan, Sheriff of Storybrooke and birth mother of Henry." Regina introduced.

The redhead raised an eyebrow, confused how the two women before her are both the mothers of Henry. She had read stories of such relationships in her travels before meeting Rumpelstiltskin. She would be lying if she said that she was not curious about the relationship between the Evil Queen and Emma Swan. She knew better than to ask Regina questions on the topic and decided to let it go. She would learn more eventually anyway.

Belle cleared her train of thought. "Hi Emma, I'm Belle."

"Hi!" Emma waved. She was slightly surprised that one of Disney's princesses was standing before her and also that she had what sounded like an Australian accent.

"Let's talk in my car. I don't want Gold to see us together." Regina led the two ladies to her parked car. The brunette opened the front passenger door for Belle while Emma sat in the back.

*.*.*.*.*

Mr Gold had returned to the shop after spending the morning resting at home. He started to notice how empty his house was without Belle. They would spend the morning at home having breakfast prepared by her and sitting at the dining table together.

Being the Dark One again, he had no need for sleep or food. Having the young woman around helped him attain a level of normalcy. The company doesn't hurt either as he had spent many years alone in a huge empty house.

He stepped into his shop, not bothering to change the 'CLOSED' sign to 'OPEN'. He did not wish to be bothered that day, not that he had ever experienced a mad rush for antiques.

He took a few steps into the shop and heard a familiar ringing of bells. He sighed.

"If you are looking for a dictionary to understand what 'closed' means, I would suggest the bookstore." Mr. Gold said.

"Rumple."

The old man turned around at the sound of Belle's voice. His excitement was short-lived when he saw two other women standing behind her; Emma Swan and Regina Mills.

"What's wrong Regina? Can't solve your problem on your own?" the Dark One teased.

"Hey!" Emma stepped forward. "Henry's dead because of you!" she shouted.

"On the contrary, Miss Swan. The one who poisoned your son was his own adoptive mother." Gold grinned.

"True Love's Kiss woke him up the first time, and now it doesn't work. So yeah! I'm blaming you!" the sheriff was in no mood for games. Staying up all night reading old books and watching her son die that morning had brought out a mixture of exhaustion and anger.

Regina watched in pleasant surprise that the blonde she had hated so much would come to her defence. She regretted the things she had done to the woman. If she hadn't been so possessive over Henry, he would have never eaten a poisoned apple turnover.

Belle pushed herself forward and stood in front of Rumpelstiltskin.

"Rumple, you need the curse to be broken so that you can find your son in New York."

Gold turned to look at his girlfriend, almost getting angry at her for revealing that information to his foe.

"If you are unwilling to lift the curse, give Regina her mother's spell book." The redhead continued.

Mr Gold looked past Belle to make eye contact with Regina. The brunette looked smug.

"Having trouble with magic, dearie? Need your mommy's help?" Gold teased.

The brunette's smugness disappeared from her face. To have her mentor who taught her all she knew about magic make fun of her definitely made a mark on her ego.

"Enough games! Just give her the book." The redhead interrupted the staring match between the Evil Queen and the Dark One.

Rumpelstiltskin waved his right hand and a puff of smoke appeared and out of nowhere, the spellbook appeared in his hand.

Regina stepped in front of the shop owner to retrieve the book but the old man did not release it to her. She looked up at him, unsure of his intention.

"Careful, dearie… these are straight up spells. Rough on the system." Rumple warned.

"I don't care if it turned me green. I'm getting my son back." Regina said as she snatched the book from his grasp and headed for the door.

"Oh, my!" Mr Gold exclaimed.

The brunette turned around, annoyed at the old man.

"What?" Regina demanded. She was in no mood for this.

"It's just, holding that… I told you once you didn't look like her, but now… now I can see it." The old man remarked.

The mayor inhaled sharply, recalling their first encounter decades ago. She was so young and innocent back then, wanting to learn magic to run away from her overbearing mother.

Regina both loved and hated her mother. Being compared to her may or may not be a compliment. She had the drive to get everything she wanted but Cora was not a loving person.

The brunette chose to ignore the comment and exited the shop with Emma and Belle behind her.

Before the redhead could exit along with them, Rumple reached over and grabbed her by the arm.

"Belle, where did you go last night?" the old man's confident demeanour was gone. He softened his voice, not wanting the woman to go.

"I've found a friend and will be staying with her," Belle said.

"There is no need to trouble anyone, you have your own room at my place." The old man reasoned.

The redhead pulled her arm away.

"As long as you continue this frivolous vengeance, Rumple, I don't want anything to do with you!" Belle said as she turned to walk out the door.

"But she…" before Mr Gold could finish his sentence, the young woman faced him once more.

"She couldn't have kidnapped me if you hadn't chased me away! You chose power over love, Rumple. You only have yourself to blame!" with that, Belle stormed off. Leaving the old man standing alone in his empty shop, quietly sobbing.


	10. Chapter 9

**A/N: My beta reader is wonderful! Chapter Nine is edited much sooner than I expected! Thank you so much Chrimsonmoon!**

* * *

"So, how will the book help you get your magic back?" Emma asked Regina.

The two women stood outside of Mr Gold's shop. The mayor did not hear the blonde's question. She was distracted by the cover of the book.

She ran her fingers across the heart-shaped ruby stone embedded in the front cover. The sight of it brought memories of her learning all the spells she knew. She flipped open the book to the middle page and blew at the ink.

In an instant, the ink rose from the page, floating like dust.

"Whoa!" the sheriff exclaimed.

Regina brought the book closer to her face and she inhaled the ink through her nostrils. All of the dust disappeared into her nose. Her irises glowed purple for a second before returning back to brown orbs.

"Did it work?" The blonde asked.

"Let's find out." The brunette's voice sounded slightly sinister.

The mayor closed the book and held out one hand open palmed. A fireball suddenly appeared in her hand. She held it there smiling triumphantly before clenching her fist to make the flame disappear.

Emma's jaws dropped to the ground. She had never seen anything like that in her life. She had so many questions but she couldn't seem to verbalise any of them.

The door to the pawnshop opened and Belle came out of the shop and joined the two ladies. Both Emma and Regina did not know what went on in the shop after they left but by the look on the redhead's face, it appeared that it was too soon to talk about it.

"Belle, thank you so much for helping me get this book. I'm so sorry for the way I've treated you." Regina said.

She held out her hand and a set of keys appeared in her palm. The brunette handed the keys to Belle. The redhead was confused by the gesture.

"These are the keys for Storybrooke Library. I know how much you love books so as a token of my gratitude, I'm giving it to you." The brunette smiled sincerely.

"Oh! Thank you." The redhead took the keys and placed them close to her chest. She wasn't expecting any reward for helping the Evil Queen.

"Besides, it might take a while for us to figure out how to break this curse," Regina said with a slight chuckle.

"All the best in breaking the curse." Belle patted the brunette on her arm.

"Thank you." The mayor smiled. For the first time in days, Regina was feeling hopeful. She watched as the redhead walked towards the library.

"That was really nice of you," Emma commented.

The smile disappeared from the brunette's face. She rolled her eyes and turned to face the blonde.

"You sound surprised," Regina said.

"Well… for an Evil Queen, you don't seem to be very _evil_." The sheriff grinned.

"I'm going back to the vault," Regina announced, ignoring Emma's observation.

The blonde watched as Regina walked towards the black Mercedes Benz parked in front of the shop.

"You're not going to wake Henry up?" Emma asked confused. Regina stopped in her tracks.

"As powerful as magic is, it cannot bring the dead back to life." The brunette's voice was laden with sadness. Emma could sense that at some point Regina had probably tried to bring someone back to life.

The blonde stood and watched as the mayor drove off.

*.*.*.*.*

Belle almost ran to the library. She could not contain her excitement to finally get her hands on some books to read. She stopped in front of the huge double doors and tried the keys that would unlock the chains.

She picked out the biggest key in the set and inserted it into the keyhole of the padlock. She turned it with a little bit of force and the lock opened.

She smiled to herself. She looked for another key to unlock the double doors. She tried a couple until one of them glide into the keyhole with ease. She turned the key and the door opened.

She pulled the door and took in the breath-taking sight of rows of books on shelves. For a place that had been closed for years, the place looked very tidy save for the dust covering the surface of the furniture.

The redhead entered the library letting the door close on its own behind her. She stood in the doorway and turned around taking in the décor of the interior. She walked to the nearest isle of books and ran her fingers along the spine of the books. She picked out one book and look at the graphics printed on the cover.

The books she used to read had hardcovers and only a simple font for the title. The books in this realm were definitely the opposite of those books. She looked at the title on the cover of the book she was holding 'To Kill a Mockingbird'. The book had an illustration of a tree on it. The cover was made out of a thin paper material that was a little thicker than the pages in the book.

The redhead realised that most of the books had illustrations on the cover. This made her all the more excited to read them.

She placed the book back in its spot on the shelf. There were definitely way more books than a girl could ever need, even for a bookworm like her. Instead of keeping the whole library to herself, Belle decided to open the library for the townspeople to read.

She was pleased with her decision and decided to explore the place further and maybe locate the duster so that she can spruce the place up before the big opening.

*.*.*.*.*

Regina spent a good amount of time in her vault practising her magic. She forgot how it felt to use her powers. Banishing everybody to a land without magic had put her out of practice. It didn't help that magic worked differently in this realm. She needed to be sure that she could control it so that she did not accidentally hurt Henry while trying to wake him up.

A thought of her first love entered her mind. On the night that she was going to elope with Daniel, Snow White informed Regina's mother, Cora, about the young lover's plan which resulted in the death of the stable boy.

Cora caught them just as they were about to run away and ripped out Daniel's heart and crushed it in front of his lover.

Regina was due to marry Snow White's father, King Leopold, the next day. The eleven-year-old was not aware that she caused the death of the stable boy. Regina told her that their relationship did not work out. It was that day that she swore to ruin Snow White's life.

The Dark Curse Regina cast was her last ditch effort to destroy Snow's happiness. The brunette thought that she could get satisfaction watching Snow White separated from her prince charming but it quickly got old and she grew bored of living a meaningless life where nothing happens and everybody feared her. It got really lonely until she finally decided to adopt a child.

Mr Gold had helped make the arrangements to procure a boy. Call it a coincidence or call it fate, the boy turned out to be Snow White's grandson who was also the Saviour's son.

Regina chose to keep Henry despite learning the fact of his lineage. She took a potion to forget that information about her adopted son so that she could love and care for him without prejudice.

Now, there she was, ten years later, working together with Snow White's daughter to save their son. She loved Henry so much that she would do anything for him. Even if it meant burying the hatchet with Snow White's family.

It was close to eight 8 o'clock in the evening. Regina mentally prepared herself to save her son. This was it. To end the curse once and for all.

* * *

 **A/N: "Wait?! Is the story going to end soon?! Where is the SwanQueen that was promised?!" I hear you ask. Don't worry... Nobody said that waking Henry up would break the curse.**

 **I have already finished a couple more chapters. Some excitement and drama coming your way ;D**


	11. Chapter 10

**A/N: I wasn't expecting this to be done this soon but here you go!**

* * *

Regina appeared in the storage room of Henry's hospital room in a puff of purple smoke. She had teleported herself the minute the day had reset itself. She took a peek in the room. Henry had not arrived at the hospital yet. There were two medical staff preparing the medical equipment for the patient's arrival.

Minutes later, the brunette could hear some commotion approaching the room. She could see an unconscious Henry on a gurney being wheeled into the room. Doctor Whale and Emma were with him. She could see the two of them arguing about the contents of a sandwich bag which in no doubt was the poisoned apple turnover Regina had made.

The brunette waited patiently for an opportunity to heal her son. She could charge in there and try to get to her son but she figured she would be stopped before she could even get close enough to the boy to heal him.

She decided to wait until the coast was clear and the medical personnel had all exited the room. Regina contemplated explaining her plan to Emma first since the blonde was not the same Emma Swan she had spent the day before with. She did not want to risk getting her lights punched out of her by the sheriff the moment she got close to Henry.

Not wanting to sustain physical injuries, the brunette chose to fill the blonde in with some basic information. She waited for Emma to stand next to the hospital bed nearest to the storage room as she always did. The mayor reached out and grabbed the blonde and pulled her in.

Emma broke free and was about to hit the assailant until she realised who it was.

"Regina! What the hell?!" the sheriff asked.

She was surprised to find the brunette there as she did not notice her arrival in the hospital room.

"Emma, I'm sorry about the apple turnover. I made a mistake and I shouldn't have tried to poison you." Regina tried her best to sound sincere as she had apologized to the blonde almost every single day.

The blonde stood dumbfounded not knowing what to say upon hearing the apology.

"The good news is, the curse could be broken with True Love's Kiss," Regina said.

"So we just need to find a princess to kiss a ten-year-old boy," Emma said sarcastically.

The brunette rolled her eyes.

"Listen, you can break the curse by kissing Henry's forehead," Regina explained, ignoring the remark the younger woman made earlier.

"What are we waiting for then?" the blonde turned to exit the room.

The brunette pulled her back in.

"Unfortunately… the curse we are dealing with now is bigger than the sleeping curse I cast," The mayor explained slowly.

"What are you talking about?" the sheriff was starting to get annoyed with the older woman.

"Rumple… Gold…" Regina corrected herself, "cast a new curse on the town, the days are repeating itself and I've lost count as to how many times I've relived today but I think I finally have the solution." The brunette's voice was laced with hope.

"What is it?" Emma asked.

"I finally got my magic back. I can now try to use it to heal Henry and hopefully, that will be enough to wake him up."

"You don't sound too certain." The blonde pointed out.

"I have tried so many times to find a way to break this curse. If this does not work…" Regina trailed off. She shook the thought out of her head. She shuddered to think that this was her last solution. She silently prayed that her magic would be strong enough to wake her son up.

Emma could feel the stress from the woman before her. She may not completely follow what was going on, but one thing was for sure, magic was real and everything Henry had told her about the curse was real as well.

"Let's wake our son up," Said the brunette.

The two women exited the storage room. Doctor Whale raised an eyebrow as he was wondering what the two women were doing in that room. He shook the impure thought from his head and tried to focus on being professional so that he could deliver an update about Henry with a straight face.

Emma and Regina took the news well considering the circumstance. They stayed by Henry's side and waited for the doctor to leave. The moment they were left alone, Regina got closer to Henry and stroked his forehead. It had been many days since she last saw him. She missed holding him and hearing his voice.

"Emma, go keep a lookout." The brunette instructed.

The blonde nodded her head in understanding and looked out of the room. The wall of the hospital room was made of glass. They did not want any of the hospital staff to stop whatever that was about to go on in the room.

Regina calmed her breath and focused on healing her son. She placed a hand on the boy's chest and watched as the hand glowed in front of her.

 _Nothing_.

The brunette placed both of her hands this time and willed for more magic to flow out of them. The heart rate monitor short-circuited. The lights in the hospital started flickering. The hospital staff could be seen trying to investigate what was happening. Emma was growing nervous and wondered if this was even a good idea, to begin with.

"Regina?" the blonde asked, concerned.

Regina ignored the sheriff. She kept going, desperate to wake her son up. Tears started forming in her eyes. She furrowed her brows and blinked the tears away, letting them flow down her cheeks.

"Please… please… please… wake up…" the brunette pleaded.

Emma's heart was breaking, looking at the desperation on Regina's face.

Suddenly, the power in the hospital went out. Hospital staff started to head towards the room.

"Regina!" the blonde tried to get the mayor's attention. "Regina!" She tried again.

The blonde ran up to the brunette and stopped her.

"What are you doing?!" the mayor was annoyed.

"It's not going to work!" Emma said slowly.

Regina did not want to believe it. She tried to use her magic on Henry again. The blonde wrapped her arms around the brunette.

"Stop! It's not going to work." Emma whispered in Regina's ears.

The mayor fell into the blonde's embrace. They both cried, defeated.

"We lost…" Regina said finally.

"No. There has to be another way." Emma said softly. Both women not letting go of the other. They hugged for some time.

"There isn't. I have looked." The mayor said into the blonde's shoulders.

Some hospital staff stood outside of the room. Unsure of whether it was okay for them to enter the room since they were afraid of the mayor.

Regina finally pulled out of the embrace and looked Emma in the eyes. The blonde could see brown orbs darken. The brunette spun around and started throwing fireballs at the equipment in the room.

"Whoa! Regina! STOP!" Emma desperately tried to stop the emotional witch from destroying the whole hospital.

The hospital personnel that had been witnessing the whole ordeal ran away screaming while one of them activated the fire alarm.

"Regina!" the blonde tried to grab the brunette but she found herself falling forward.

The brunette had teleported herself out of the room. Leaving only a purple smoke behind.

"Where the hell did she go?" Emma said to herself as sprinklers sprayed water from the ceiling extinguishing the flames in the room.

* * *

 **A/N: Where did Regina go? Is there any way to break the curse?**


	12. Chapter 11

**A/N: I am very thankful at the response I got from this story. I really hope you guys enjoy it until the end.**

 **I am really sad that OUAT has come to an end but I look forward to keeping it alive with reading and writing more fanfic.**

* * *

Belle was happy with the progress she was making in cleaning up the library. She found that there was an apartment for the library caretaker in the back. She had replaced the sheets with linen Ruby had smuggled from the inn.

The waitress had volunteered to help the redhead tidy up the library after she was done with her shift at the diner. However, her help was short-lived as the day had reset itself and Ruby disappeared to where she was at 8:15 p.m. on the night Henry ate the apple turnover.

Belle sighed and carried on with her cleaning. She will have to wait until the morning to introduce herself to her friend. The thought of having to keep introducing herself to Ruby made her sad. She enjoyed the energy the brunette emitted. Her care-free nature was a welcome change to the people Belle surrounded herself with the past three decades.

She stopped dusting when she heard a knock on the door. She wondered who it could be as the only person who knew she was there was Regina who had given her keys to the library.

Belle had not removed the newspaper pasted to the door so that she could do her work without any nosey townspeople distracting her from her task. This also meant that she could not see who had come knocking on the library door.

She pushed the door slowly so that she wouldn't accidentally hit the visitor in the face. She inhaled sharply when she saw who had paid her a visit.

"Rumple," she furrowed her brows, "how did you know I was here?"

"I was passing by and saw that the chains on the doors were removed and figured you would be the one responsible for removing the lock." Mr. Gold explained.

"Regina gave me the keys," Belle said.

Rumplestiltskin smiled hearing the news. The two of them remained at the doorway, Belle clearly did not want the old man to enter.

"Well, the library had been closed for so long. I guess it was just waiting for the rightful owner." The shop owner said. He was mentally kicking himself for not being the one to gift his lover the library. There was sadness in his eyes despite the small smile on his face.

"I was thinking of opening the library to the public once I've had the place cleaned up." The redhead explained.

"I won't keep you then. I'm sure you have a lot of work to do. I came by to bring you your clothing. It's a good thing they were already packed." Rumple laughed nervously recalling the night that caused Belle to leave him.

"Thank you." Belle was genuinely thankful as she didn't want to have an awkward conversation with Ruby about why a total stranger was wearing her jeans.

She took the suitcase Mr. Gold handed her. Rumple took a mental note of how Belle looked in T-shirt and jeans. She looked beautiful despite wearing an oversized top. He still preferred her in dresses as the modern look made her a little unrecognisable to him.

Belle wanted to ask if he had figured out a way to leave town yet but the subject may bring up another argument and she did not want to get into it at the moment.

She watched as Rumplestiltskin waved a small goodbye and turned to leave. She missed him but she cannot stand by the Dark One's evil deeds even if it was in her honour.

A loud bang caught her attention in the distance. She could see trees and cars along the street being set on fire.

 _What is going on?!_ She thought to herself. The redhead hurried inside the library and locked the doors.

*.*.*.*.*

Emma's phone had been ringing non-stop since Regina vanished from the hospital. There had been complaints of cars being set on fire and various vandalism to public property.

She did not need to go down to the streets to investigate as she had a pretty good idea who was tearing Storybrooke apart.

Emma was still soaked from the water sprinklers. Henry had been moved to another room and was already hooked up to hospital equipment that was not affected by Regina's outbursts. Doctor Whale was curious as to what went on when he left the room but remained professional to ensure that his patient was unharmed and that his vitals were stable.

The sheriff knew that she needed to stop the mayor from setting the whole town on fire. Once she was satisfied that Henry was in the good hands of the hospital staff, Emma went to change out of her wet clothing before heading out looking for the out of control witch.

She drove the sheriff's car around town, following a trail of burning objects along the street. It seemed to lead to the cemetery.

Emma parked the car and walked inside the graveyard. She had a pretty good idea where Regina was.

The blonde had been to the Mills' mausoleum before with the former sheriff, Graham Humbert. He was convinced that the mayor had kept his heart there. That night did not turn out well. Emma and Regina got into a physical fight over Graham and the former sheriff ended up dying mysteriously later that night. The coroner reported that it was heart failure but the blonde was with him that night. Nothing about the way he died looked like a heart attack.

Emma stopped in front of the mausoleum. The door to the tomb was left open. She took a peek inside and saw a coffin in the middle of the tomb but there was no sign of Regina.

She took out her flashlight and shined it around the room. She found that the coffin had been moved. She walked closer to it to examine it. On the cover of the coffin was a golden plaque that read "HENRY MILLS, BELOVED FATHER."

Regina had named her son after her father. She clearly had a close bond with her patriarch. Emma was curious to learn more about him but she figured that the brunette is not the type to share her personal life with just anybody.

The sheriff shined the light on the ground behind the coffin and saw steps leading to an underground passageway. She decided to go down the steps and take a look.

"Regina?" the blonde called out.

She waited for an answer but the whole place was quiet. She walked further inside. She could hear the beating of hearts. Several of them in fact!

The sheriff took a closer look at the wall of glowing red orbs. She pulled out a box and peered into it. It was a beating heart!

 _Maybe this was what Graham was talking about when he said his heart was in here_. Emma finally figured it out.

She placed the box back in its place and continued further into the passageway.

Emma could see the brunette in a room at the end of the passageway, hurdled in a corner and crying.

"Regina?" the blonde called out softly once she got closer.

"Go away, Swan!" Regina was not in the mood for company.

 _I deserve this punishment! I deserve to be alone!_ The brunette was convinced that there was no hope of saving Henry.

Emma kneeled down next to Regina. She cautiously placed a hand on the mayor's arm. She knew how powerful Regina's' magic was and did not want to be the next to get barbequed.

"We'll find a way. I've tried looking. I've looked through every spell book, every potion, every enchantment, they all said the same thing, and there is no way to break this time loop curse." The brunette explained.

"According to Henry's book, I am the Saviour." Emma started saying carefully. "That means, I can help you break this curse."

Green eyes met chocolate ones. The sincerity in the blonde's eyes was sweet as honey, enough to put a small smile on the mayor's face.

Regina's eyes grew wide when she realised something.

"The book!" she said all of a sudden.

"What?" Emma was not following.

"Henry's book! I've not seen it since the new curse!" Regina explained.

"Do you think the answer lies in there?" the blonde asked.

"I don't know. I feel like I am grasping at straws but it can't hurt to try." The mayor sounded exasperated.

"Okay… but before we start looking for it…"

"We have to look for it!" Regina interrupted.

"We will… it's just that the town is kind of on fire… from your fiery rampage earlier…" Emma said slowly. Not wanting to aggravate the brunette.

"So?"

"Regina!" the sheriff whined.

"Fine! I'll fix it." The mayor relented.

"Thank you! Then maybe we can go for drinks? I think you could use some hard liquor' Emma bumped her shoulder into Regina's.

This brought a genuine smile on the brunette's face. A welcomed change from before.


	13. Chapter 12

**A/N: Hey guys! Sorry for the late update. I've just received this from my beta reader Chrimsonmoon whom had been in the hospital last week for surgery. I hope she is feeling better and may she have a speedy recovery.**

* * *

Regina sat alone at the local bar poorly named "The Rabbit Hole". She didn't normally enjoy drinking that much aside from her favourite brand of Apple Cider. She normally drank at home as well.

The night Emma brought her out to have drinks was the first time the brunette took a break from the curse. They did not drink as much as the blonde would have liked but it was enough to help Regina take her mind off the stress. It worked a little too well.

The mayor was day drinking at the bar on her own for a totally different reason. She was not stressed from the curse nor was she grieving over her son. She was drinking because of what had happened after Emma and Regina left the bar the previous night.

Not used to drinking whisky on an empty stomach, Regina got a little drunk. Emma was used to dealing with drunk Leeroy who would always cause a nuisance in his drunken state every time she was on night shift. Being the town sheriff, Emma often had to bring Leeroy to the station to sober up. The blonde helped Regina get into the beat-up yellow Volkswagen Emma owned and drove her to the Mayor's mansion despite being slightly tipsy herself.

The brunette had quickly fallen asleep the moment she was buckled into the passenger seat. The blonde wished she had taken a photo of the mayor to tease her about not being able to carry her alcohol but thought better of it especially since the two of them were not exactly close friends. If anything, they were rivals.

Emma felt responsible for allowing Regina to get this drunk. It _was_ her idea after all even though she couldn't have known the brunette would get drunk so easily.

The drive to the Mills' Residence didn't take long since the mansion was close to the centre of town. The blonde commended herself for being able to drive them safely through town. She had a lot of practice when she was younger.

"Hey, Regina," Emma said softly to gently wake her passenger up. "You're home."

The brunette grumbled but did not make any effort to wake up.

The sheriff attempted to wake Regina a few times but it was no use. The mayor had already fallen into deep sleep.

Emma reached into Regina's blazer pocket to retrieve the house keys. She got out of the car and walked up to the front door. She unlocked it with the key and left the door open. Luckily, there weren't any burglar alarms activated to wake the whole town and if there were, she doubt it would interrupt the mayor's sleep.

The blonde set the keys down on a small table near the door inside the house. She walked back to her bug and opened the passenger door. She smiled when she heard the mayor snoring. Emma found it cute. She deemed the thought inappropriate and shook it out of her head.

The sheriff unbuckled the seatbelt and scooped the brunette in her arms. She thanked her daily workout routine for the biceps that allowed her to carry the mayor without falling over.

Emma carried Regina into the house. At first, she wanted to just lay the brunette on the sofa but decided against it since the mayor had probably not had proper rest in a while judging by how easily she got in this state on two glasses of whisky.

She adjusted the weight in her arms and proceeded to climb the spiral staircase that circled the foyer. Emma was careful in climbing the steps. She did not want to injure the both of them should she trip.

The blonde guessed the room that belonged to the mayor through recalling the window she once saw Graham climbed out of after he had spent the night with Regina. Emma leaned her right shoulder against the door and turned the knob with her right hand and gently pushed the door open.

Regina nuzzled into Emma's neck. The blonde froze at the touch. The blonde involuntarily cleared her throat at the awkwardness of the situation. She took a deep breath and stepped forward. Emma gently lowered the brunette onto the bed. She was about to remove the mayor's heels when a hand grabbed at her wrist. Emma looked down to see that Regina was holding on to her.

"Don't leave me, Daniel." The mayor said in her sleep.

The blonde was unsure of what to do. She felt the brunette tug on her arm.

"Regina?" Emma whispered to wake her up.

"Come snuggle with me." Regina sounded small and vulnerable.

The blonde could not break free from the persistent mayor. Without thinking, she climbed into bed and comforted the brunette for a while since she showed no sign of relenting from pulling Emma to join her in bed. It may have been the alcohol that clouded her judgement.

Emma convinced herself that it would just be for a little while and she could sneak out when the mayor finally let go of the blonde.

The sheriff unzipped her boots and kicked them off her feet. She helped the brunette out of the heels the best she could despite the hands that were clinging on to her arm.

As soon as Emma laid on the bed, Regina wrapped her arms around the blonde's waist and snuggled close. _This is going to be a long night._ The sheriff thought to herself. Regina's bed was really comfortable that the blonde fell asleep almost immediately.

The next morning, Regina was awakened by a phone ringing. She opened her eyes wide when she noticed it was two sets of ringtones.

She felt a weight resting on her chest. She looked down to find a hand. She sat up quickly causing her head to hurt. Regina winced at the pain.

 _How much did I drink last night?_ She wondered to herself.

Her attention went back to the owner of the arm.

 _Emma!_

"Miss Swan! What are you doing in my bed?" the mayor exclaimed.

Shocked by the sudden loud voice, the blonde jumped out of bed and fell to the floor.

"OW! What the hell, Regina?!" Emma groaned as she rubbed her lower back.

The brunette climbed out on the other side of the bed, using the furniture to keep the distance between them.

"Care to explain why you were in _my_ bed?" Regina asked, fuming with anger.

The sheriff picked herself up off the floor and was about to answer when her phone started ringing again. She took her phone out of her pocket to see who it was. The blonde ignored Regina and answered the call.

The brunette crossed her arms and waited for Emma to be done with her phone call.

From the look on the sheriff's face, Regina can tell that it was the hospital calling to inform about Henry's worsening condition.

Emma ended the call and looked at the brunette.

"It's the hospital… Henry's dying!" the blonde was close to tears.

"Never mind that! Explain yourself, Miss Swan!"

Emma's jaw fell to the floor. She couldn't believe Regina was ignoring news about her son.

It took a second for the blonde to realise that the mayor had probably heard the news a hundred times and experienced Henry dying a hundred times as well.

She decided to answer the brunette so that she could get out of there and see her son one last time.

"You got really drunk last night and I brought you back home. When I was about to leave you asked me to snuggle with you." Emma blurted causing both women to blush.

"What?" Regina asked in disbelieve.

"Don't worry. Nothing happened." The two women avoided looking at each other. Not knowing what to say.

"I… I gotta go see Henry." Emma bolted out of there as fast as she could.

Regina recoiled as she recalled the scenes that transpired that morning. She downed the drink in front of her and asked the bartender for another. She couldn't believe she had actually spent the night snuggling the woman who stole her son. The brunette felt conflicted because she had a really nice sleep despite waking up with a hangover.

The brunette heard the bar door open and looked up from her glass to see who had come in. The bar was pretty empty since it was just after lunchtime. The mayor did not feel comfortable letting people see her there.

A familiar blonde walked towards the bar and upon seeing the mayor, stopped in her tracks. The two women looked at each other awkwardly before Emma turned to leave.

* * *

 **A/N: Next chapter comes out tomorrow, I swear!**


	14. Chapter 13

**A/N: As promised! The latest chapter. I'm sorry that the next few chapters will be coming very slowly. My schedule has been a little busy but will try to do as much writing as I can. Chapter 14 is written just waiting for my beta reader to edit it.**

 **In the meantime share your theory on how this curse will be broken...**

* * *

"Emma wait!" Regina called out. She had run out of the bar to stop the blonde.

Emma stopped in her tracks. She wasn't sure if she even wanted to talk to the brunette. She had spent the morning grieving her son and sorting out arrangements with the hospital, not like Regina was any help.

The brunette walked up to the blonde, closing the gap between them. She touched the sheriff's elbow indicating she wanted the blonde to turn and look at her. Emma relented.

"Emma, I'm… I'm sorry for how I acted this morning." The brunette struggled to get the words out. "I'm sorry for how I treated you and thank you so much for bringing me home safely."

The blonde gave a small smile. Regina could see Emma's eyes were swollen from crying.

"Want to grab a drink?" the mayor offered.

"Trying to get me in your bed again?" Emma teased.

Regina chuckled.

"I'm not planning a repeat of last night, Miss Swan."

The two women headed in the bar.

*.*.*.*.*

Belle took a break from cleaning the library and decided to have a late lunch at Granny's Diner.

She slid into the same booth she sat in the first time she ate at the diner. The redhead spotted Ruby exiting the kitchen with two plates of dishes.

"Hi, Ruby!" Belle greeted.

The waitress smiled but it was clear that she did not recognise the woman who had just called her name.

"Be right with you," Ruby said as she walked past Belle's table.

The smile on the redhead's face vanished. She was so preoccupied with sorting out the library that she forgot all about the curse. She didn't know why she was sad that a woman she had only recently befriended had forgotten her existence.

Belle covered her face with the menu, pretending to look at the food choices there. She took a deep breath and tried to muster a smile.

"Okay, miss, what can I get you?" Ruby asked when she finally stopped at Belle's table.

The redhead looked up at the waitress with a big smile.

"I actually couldn't decide… could you recommend me something?" Belle said in a sweet voice.

The lanky brunette couldn't help but get lost in the deep blue eyes of the mystery woman in front of her. She had never seen her before. The waitress blinked herself back to reality when she found herself staring a little too long.

"Erm… the hamburger is my favourite if you don't mind having that." The brunette recommended.

Belle's smile grew even wider. She did enjoy Granny's hamburger. The redhead was happy to hear that it was Ruby's favourite too.

"Yes please." The librarian said.

"And anything to drink?" the waitress asked.

"Can I have the iced lemon tea, please? I heard that it is homemade." Belle ordered.

"Yes! Brewed the tea myself this morning." Ruby said, beaming with pride.

The brunette waitress didn't normally divulge such unimportant information especially not to a stranger she had never seen before. But then again, she don't meet a lot of strangers in a small town like Storybrooke.

She quickly scribbled down her order and started to walk back to the kitchen but stopped herself as a thought entered her head.

"How did you know my name?" Ruby asked Belle.

The redhead was caught off guard. She couldn't tell Ruby the truth because she wouldn't have believed it anyway.

"Oh! I heard somebody else calling you Ruby." Belle answered quickly.

The waitress bought the lie. She didn't think much of it and went sauntering off to the kitchen.

The redhead was relieved. She needed to be careful to not slip up. She did not want to be seen as crazy and get thrown into the psychiatric ward again. If she did, she would be stuck there until the curse breaks.

Belle wished that she had somebody she could be friends with that wasn't cursed. She definitely did not want to go back to Rumple and although she and Regina are kind of on better terms than before, she did not want to distract the Queen from breaking the curse.

The redhead had her books to keep her company but for human interactions, she may need to try and befriend Ruby over and over again. If their friendship was meant to be, it shouldn't be too difficult.

*.*.*.*.*

Not wanting a repeat from the night before, Emma and Regina opted for drinking beer and eating Buffalo wings. The blonde had not eaten anything the whole morning.

The two women exchanged stories about their son. At first, Regina was reluctant to do so as she refused to do a eulogy about her son but Emma argued that it wasn't to remind them that he had died but to motivate them to break the curse so that he can live. The brunette agreed that that was a much better way of looking at it.

"This was when Henry was five years old," Regina showed a picture of her son from her phone to Henry's other mother "he wanted so much to be a knight for Halloween. I got him the costume but he said that a knight had to have a horse!" Regina chuckled as she recollected the memory. "So I took a broom and tied a rope to make the reigns."

"Was that horse to the liking of Sir Henry?" Emma giggled.

"He looked me dead in the eyes and said 'This horse will do nicely. Thank you, fair maiden!' and he said it with his squeaky voice." The brunette laughed.

"He is a great kid." The sheriff noted.

Even though Emma had given up Henry for a closed adoption, she was glad she made that decision. Her son had a good life and Regina took good care of him.

"When the curse breaks, will you stay in Storybrooke?" Regina asked out of the blue.

Emma was taken aback by the sudden seriousness in topic.

"I haven't actually thought about it." The blonde replied truthfully.

"Well, whether you want to stay or not, if you want to, you can share custody of Henry." Regina offered.

Emma's eyes grew wide. She didn't think that that option could ever be on the table. Ever since she had been reunited with Henry, Regina had tried everything in her power to keep the blonde away from her biological son.

"Are you asking me to be part of your family?" Emma asked.

Regina almost spat out the beer she was sipping.

"Well, I was thinking more along the lines of sharing Henry. Maybe you could see him on weekends or some of the holidays if you are going back to Boston." The mayor clarified.

"Oh." Came the only reply from Emma.

The two women went silent and did not utter another word.

Regina did not know what Emma was thinking when she reacted that way to the suggestion. The blonde almost sounded disappointed by the proposal. She wasn't sure if the sheriff wanted to be more involved in Henry's life or if she wanted to be a family together with her and their son.

The brunette pictured what life would be like if they had been a family together. Her mind wandered to the previous night to when the two women had snuggled all night in her bed.

 _Why am I thinking about this? Am I falling for Emma Swan?_

"We need to get Henry's book." Regina blurted out.

Emma raised an eyebrow and ignored the weird way Regina was acting.

"I don't remember seeing it in his backpack. Could it be in his room?" the blonde asked.

"Henry always took it with him. He didn't want me to destroy it." Regina said sadly. Remembering how much she hurt the son she loved.

"Maybe he left it at the loft?" Emma suggested not wanting Regina to get too emotional about her past mistakes.

"Let's go look for it." The mayor said.


	15. Chapter 14

**A/N: New chapter! Yay! I would like to announce that I am working on another SwanQueen AU story at the moment. Will try to get the stories up as regularly as possible. The idea came to me yesterday and I am so excited to write it. I hope some of you will be interested in reading it.**

* * *

"His things are in that box," Emma said pointing at a cardboard box sitting on the dining table as she and Regina entered her and Mary Margaret's loft apartment.

The blonde had been living with Henry's elementary school teacher since the first week she arrived in Storybrooke. Emma was not used to having roommates but she had trouble looking for a place to stay after being kicked out of Granny's Inn because there was a no felon allowed rule which the mayor had graciously reminded Granny Lucas about. The rest of the town had no listing for an apartment as nobody ever leaves or move which was odd even for a small town. Mary Margaret had offered the spare bedroom in the loft to Emma after seeing the blonde sitting in her car in the middle of the night.

After twenty-eight years of not knowing who her birth parents were, she ended up unknowingly being roommates with her own mother and even weirder still, Mary Margaret was in her late twenties!

"You look through the things, I'll see if I had missed some of Henry's things upstairs," Emma instructed Regina and disappeared up the stairs that lead to her room.

The sheriff knew that it was impossible that she had anything of Henry's in her room as all of her things had been packed and so are her son's things. She just needed a moment to prepare herself. The last time she looked through the boy's things, she was a wreck.

Not wanting to shed any more tears, Emma took a deep breath and focussed on the task at hand which was to break the curse so that Henry will live.

Downstairs, Regina was the opposite. Tears were already streaming down her cheeks. She picked up Henry's scarf that he wore almost all the time. It was his favourite scarf from when he was six years old.

Henry had picked it out himself when they went to Portland, Maine. The mayor rarely left town but she wanted to give Henry a treat before he started first grade.

The brunette held the scarf to her chest. She remembered the day Henry chose it.

 _"I'm a big boy now! I can choose my own clothes!" Henry declared after Regina tried to make him try out some clothes he clearly disapproved._

 _The mayor smiled and shook her head in amazement._

 _"Okay Henry, go pick out what you want." His mother encouraged._

 _The young boy looked surprised at the newfound independence. He enthusiastically circled the rows of boys' clothes in the children's section of the departmental store. Henry looked through all the shirts hanging on the racks, picked at the pants that are folded on the shelves, none of them seemed to be to his liking._

 _He wasn't entirely sure what he wanted. He expanded his search to the outerwear section and was immediately drawn to a grey and red knitted scarf._

 _"This! I want this one!" Henry announced to his mother proudly._

 _"That's all?" Regina asked, confused at the young boy's selection._

 _"You can pick out the rest. I just want this scarf." Henry said shyly. He was embarrassed that all he could decide on was a scarf._

 _His mother lifted his chin with her forefinger and looked him in the eyes. "It's perfect, Henry!"_

 _He looked his mother in the eyes and grinned._

Heavy footsteps climbing down the stairs broke the brunette's reverie. Regina placed the scarf on the table and looked through the rest of the contents of the box.

There weren't much of the deceased boy's belongings there. The book was obviously not there.

Emma noticed the mayor had been crying. She placed a comforting hand on the mayor's back. Regina did not flinch or reject the touch. Instead, she turned her body around and embraced the blonde. She missed him terribly and she was slowly losing her resolve on breaking the curse.

Even though Regina had been spending time with a different Emma each day, she didn't feel alone. With each reset of the day, the brunette felt more and more defeated. Emma had been the one to keep her grounded and gave her the strength she needed to keep fighting.

The mayor looked into green eyes. She recognised the pain that was in those eyes. The pain of a mother's loss of a child. Her own eyes mirrored the same sentiment. Tears began forming again in both women's eyes. They closed their eyes and could feel the other's breathing becoming quick and shallow as their faces started to close the gap between them.

The door to the apartment swung open and both ladies jumped apart, startled at the rude interruption. Emma looked down at the box on the dining table, pretending to look through the items there. Regina scowled at the person who had ruined the moment. It was Mary Margaret.

The pixie-haired brunette was carrying bags of groceries and had clearly kicked the door open to enter.

"Madame Mayor! I heard about Henry. I'm so sorry for your loss." Mary Margaret said to the older woman.

She did not know how to act or if what she said was appropriate as she was terrified of the mayor. She did not know if a hug would have been too much. She settled on standing by the doorway and giving her condolences.

It felt weird to have Regina Mills be in her apartment but seeing as Emma and the mayor shared a son, it made sense that the both of them would be mourning him together.

She was glad that they could put their differences aside and not tear each other apart.

"Thank you, Sno… Mary Margaret." Regina corrected herself.

The young teacher was surprised to hear her first name as she had always been addressed as Miss Blanchard by the mayor.

"What's with the groceries?" Emma asked as she helped her roommate bring the groceries to the kitchen.

"Oh! This is for the wake later at Granny's. Will you be there, Madame Mayor?" Mary Margaret asked, unsure if Emma had informed Regina about it.

Emma and Mary Margaret unpacked the bags in the kitchen. Regina turned around and walked to the kitchen counter that was just two steps away from where she was standing in the small apartment.

"No." came Regina's reply."

Both Emma and Mary Margaret looked at the older brunette.

"Mary Margaret, there is something that I need to talk to you about. Could we sit for a while?" said the mayor.

*.*.*.*.*

Belle had finished her meal and had treated herself to a 'Granny's Sundae' which was made of strawberry, vanilla and chocolate ice-cream, topped with strawberry syrup, chocolate sprinkles, whipped cream and a cherry.

The waitresses in the diner had been busy serving customers and clearing the furniture in the middle section of the diner. The librarian was curious as to what was going on as she had never been at the diner in the late afternoon before.

"We're preparing for a wake. The mayor's son had died this morning and he is loved by the whole town. We're actually doing it more for the biological mother than the mayor." Ruby explained.

Belle nodded her understanding. She wondered how many of the wakes Regina had actually attended. She was curious about Henry and wished that she will get the chance to get to know him.

"Can I help you?" the redhead asked Ruby.

"Sure!" the brunette waitress was glad to hear that her new customer will be sticking around longer. She felt a connection with Belle and wanted to get to know her better.

Mr Gold froze at the entrance of the diner. He had just stepped in to collect his dinner take away when he spotted his former love. He noticed Belle seaming to be happy despite not being with him anymore.

The old man had become sad and alone. Both his son and girlfriend left him because he kept on making wrong decisions that drive the people closest to him away. He was starting to wonder if this revenge was worth it anymore.

"Here you go, Mr Gold." Granny Lucas handed a paper bag containing the old man's order.

The pawnbroker did not notice the woman walk up to him.

"Thank you." He said as he took the food from the diner owner and exited the establishment.

*.*.*.*.*

Emma, Regina and Mary Margaret sat on the sofa in the corner of the loft. The young teacher did not know what was going on. She was used to Regina being mean and sarcastic but she sounded soft and vulnerable when she requested to talk to her. Mary Margaret concluded that it must be due to the fact that the older woman was grieving.

Regina had not decided what to tell the young brunette. Should she reveal the whole truth or just ask about the book. If she did reveal the truth, should she omit about Emma being Mary Margaret's daughter?

The older brunette avoided eye contact with Emma the entire time. She had no idea what came over her earlier. She needed to focus on finding the book and break the curse.

"You wanted to tell me something?" Mary Margaret prompted. She did not want to waste time as she had planned to cook a couple of dishes for the wake. She was pressed for time.

"Yes. I'm not exactly sure where to begin." Regina started slowly. "You know how Henry said that you are Snow White."

"Yes…" Mary Margaret was unsure of where this was heading.

"Well, that is true." The mayor eyed the teacher carefully to see if she understood.

The young brunette furrowed her brow.

"What do you mean it's true?" Mary Margaret was confused.

Emma's eyes grew wide. She was not expecting Regina to come clean.

"The stories in Henry's book… they are all true. They are stories about us. About everybody in this town." The mayor let out a sigh. She had no idea how good it felt to get that off her chest.

"Regina, I know Henry's death is a lot to take in. What you're saying is not possible. I am not Snow White and you…"

Regina rolled her eyes and made a fireball appear in her hand stopping the young brunette mid-sentence.

"You are the Evil Queen." Mary Margaret said in disbelieve.

"Hello, Snow White." The mayor smirked.


	16. Chapter 15

**A/N: Sorry it took a while to post up an update. Will post up Chapter 16 tomorrow.**

 **Also I am happy to see the respond on my new story "Fighting Spirit". Will be working on writing both stories at the same time so that means updates will be slow. I will also be starting my night classes soon so that means I will have even less time to write. Will try my best to complete this story soon.**

* * *

"Mary Margaret? Are you okay?" Emma asked her roommate.

"I'm not sure what kind of prank you and Regina are trying to pull. I don't have time for this!" The young brunette said while frantically whisking some egg yolks in a bowl.

After Regina had conjured a fireball in her hand, the teacher sat in silent contemplation before walking to the kitchen to start cooking.

Emma had followed behind to check on her. The mayor remained at the sofa, irritated that Mary Margaret was sceptical despite seeing magic with her own eyes.

"It's not a prank…" the sheriff tried to explain.

"So what? Regina is the Evil Queen, I am Snow White and Henry was killed by a poisoned apple?"

"Yes," Regina answered from across the room.

"Regina, let me handle this." The blonde felt caught in the middle of two irate women.

"We are wasting precious time, Miss Swan. I don't want to have to go through this another day!" The older brunette shot an angry look at Mary Margaret.

"What are you even talking about?" the young teacher felt confused.

"Mary Margaret, do you remember how you got Henry's book?" Emma decided to ignore the situation and jump straight to their objective of going back to the apartment.

"The old storybook?" Mary Margaret asked.

"Yes!" the other two women answered in unison.

"I found it in a box in my closet." The teacher said while pointing the whisk in the direction of her closet.

The mayor walked briskly over to the closet and started bringing out boxes.

"What the hell do you think you are doing?!" Mary Margaret slammed the bowl of eggs on the kitchen counter and rushed to where Regina was. The sheriff ran in front of her roommate to stop her.

"Mary Margaret, we are trying to break a curse and save Henry. We think that the book has the answer."

"Even so, that does not give her the right to go through my things! Besides, why would the book even be in there? Henry had it." The teacher said not taking her eyes off of the woman ransacking her belongings.

Regina took boxes after boxes and emptied them out one by one on Mary Margaret's bed and tossing the box on the floor.

"We've searched everywhere and there is a chance that it could go back to where it was found," Emma explained.

The mayor emptied out the last box.

"It's not here!" she said as she tossed the last box onto the pile of discarded boxes.

"I told you!" the teacher said as she walked around the blonde to get her things.

She picked up one of the boxes. It was a wooden box where she kept her winter scarves.

"I found the book in this box. I remembered thinking about how sad and lonely Henry was and then I opened the box and there it was." Mary Margaret opened the box to place her scarves back in it but when she lifted the cover, she froze.

"What is it?" Emma asked as she walked over to join the other ladies.

The young brunette picked up the item that surprised her.

"The book!" Regina exclaimed.

"How is it possible?" Mary Margaret felt like the whole thing was unreal.

"I'll look through the book, Emma you deal with your… roommate." Regina said.

She did not care much about the teacher. She just wanted to avoid being in close proximity to the blonde.

*.*.*.*.*

Mr. Gold was feeling extremely lonely. He didn't use to mind much of it during the Dark Curse as he had been on his own for over a century trying to find ways to get to the realm his son, Baelfire, had escaped to. But being able to see Belle again and to be so close to her yet not be with her was becoming a torture. His stand on punishing Regina was beginning to falter.

The old man walked to the back room of his shop and picked up a hand mirror. He waved his hand over the mirror to conjure the vision of his former love, Belle.

He could see the redhead was still at the diner, talking to Ruby in a corner. The two of them seemed to be having a good time talking. The waitress brushed a strand of hair off of Belle's face. The back of her hand proceeded to caress the redhead's face. Belle leaned into the touch.

Mr. Gold was filled with jealousy. He will not allow for the werewolf, Ruby, to steal his girlfriend from him!

The Dark One waved his hand over the mirror again to conjure the vision of Regina. She was at Emma's apartment with Mary Margaret and the Sheriff. He watched intently.

He listened to their conversation. The women were searching for Henry's book.

Mr. Gold opened the drawer of one of the cupboards in the back room of his shop revealing the storybook. He had stolen it from Henry's bag before enacting the curse.

Deciding to give his foe a helping hand, he waved his hand over the book making it appear in one of Mary Margaret's boxes.

He smiled when he saw in the mirror that the teacher had found the book.

It won't be long before the curse will be broken and Rumplestiltskin would be reunited with his son again in New York. In the meantime, he needed to take care of a certain wolf.

*.*.*.*.*

Mary Margaret was finishing with making egg casserole to bring to the wake. Emma had been helping her roommate pack away the mess that Regina had made. The mayor was reading about the different stories that involved the sleeping curse, namely Snow White and Briar Rose's stories.

Both women survived the sleeping curse with 'True Love's Kiss', the most powerful magic of all. She was about to throw a fit after the constant reminder of how Snow had defeated her many times until she realised something that she had failed to notice before, in this new curse, Henry was not the one who had been cursed. It was Regina.

Just as the feeling of hope appeared, it quickly dissipated. Where was she supposed to find 'True Love'? Her true love had died years ago and Regina's attempts at trying to bring him back to life had failed.

Magic had very specific rules. You cannot bring someone back from the dead, you cannot make someone fall in love with you and you cannot change the past.

Regina looked up to see that Mary Margaret was leaving. She was running late as the wake had started an hour ago. Granny Lucas had been calling several times as guests had already arrived and the teacher was supposed to bring the main course.

"I'll see you later at the diner," Emma said to her roommate.

"Okay. Don't be too late. I'm sure a lot of the townspeople would want to give you their condolences." The teacher said before exiting the apartment.

Emma walked over to where Regina was seated.

"Any luck with finding a solution?" the blonde asked.

"Not really." The brunette did not want to mention that it was Regina who needed a 'True Love's Kiss' to break the curse. She did not want to hear Emma suggesting speed dating or whatever other dim-witted solutions she would no doubt come up with.

"I see." The blonde said as she sat down on the other end of the sofa.

Emma watched as Regina continued reading the book.

"So… are we not gonna talk about what happened earlier?" Emma asked.

"About what, dear?" Regina said not breaking away from the book.

"Regina… we almost kissed." The blonde said finally.

The brunette stopped reading. She let out a breath and turned to face the sheriff.

"Miss Swan, don't read too much into things. It was just your imagination. Maybe you did have a little too much to drink. You should go lie down." Regina said dismissively and turned back to the book.

"That is a load of crap and you know it!" Emma said angrily.

The mayor ignored the blonde.

"Regina, I feel connected to you in some way and I don't know… maybe it's just me but… I really wanted to kiss you…" Regina turned to look at Emma "and I feel like you wanted to kiss me too." The sheriff continued.

"I don't know what to say, Miss Swan. You are not the first to find me attractive. But believe me, what you are feeling is completely one-sided." The brunette said with a dead serious face.

She had always been good at keeping her true feelings hidden.

Emma moved closer to Regina. Her face almost an inch away from the mayor's.

"You're lying." The sheriff said as she placed a hand cupping the brunette's face.

The two women looked into each other's eyes. The longing in her brown orbs betraying Regina.

Both women closed their eyes and leaned in closer. It felt like an eternity as Regina anticipated the touch of soft lips against hers but it was taking a while to happen. The brunette can no longer feel Emma's hand on her face. Maybe the blonde had changed her mind. Confused, she opened her eyes to see what was wrong and she realised that Emma was gone.

* * *

 **A/N: Sucks that time resets itself at the very worst time... Will Regina ever get to taste Emma's sweet lips?**


	17. Chapter 16

**A/N: To my dear girlfriend, I'm sorry that Rumple's actions seemed sudden and may be a little out of character. I was just writing his actions as how a manipulative person would react out of loneliness and jealousy. I will try my best to make sure that the actions and character developments are as natural as possible. Love you!**

* * *

 _'Of course'._ Regina felt disappointed with the universe. It seemed like any chance of anything potentially good happening to her, it gets taken away. The brunette wanted to know how she felt about Emma and now she had no chance of ever finding out because the blonde that existed at that moment is full of anger and despise for the mayor.

Regina was growing tired of the events in her life. She was still nowhere close to breaking the curse and she was not sure if she could be around Emma anymore. She felt confused about her feelings.

The brunette needed somebody to talk to. She turned off her cell phone that had been ringing. She knew exactly who to turn to for the heart to heart. Belle.

*.*.*.*.*

Belle found herself standing alone next to the jukebox at Granny's Diner. She was just a moment ago talking to Ruby when suddenly there was a flash of light and the whole diner changed from being filled with townspeople at Henry's wake to a normal dinner crowd at the eatery.

Ruby was just ending her shift and was getting ready to head out. Belle decided to follow the brunette and see where she goes to that night.

The redhead followed the waitress discreetly. Ruby was completely unaware of her stalker. She walked down Main Street and turned in a quieter, shadier part of town. She waved at a couple of girls that were waiting for her outside a bar. One of them was a blonde and another was a waitress that Belle had seen before at the diner.

Ruby hugged and kissed the women's cheeks before all three ladies headed into the bar that had a sign with a rabbit popping out of a hole.

Belle recognised the reference to a story she had read about a girl named Alice who found herself in a strange realm called Wonderland.

The redhead looked down at the black dress she was wearing. She had changed into the dress before heading back down to the diner to attend the wake.

Belle figured that despite the elegance of the dress, she wouldn't stand out too much in the establishment. Determined to befriend the waitress, the redhead started walking towards the entrance of the 'Rabbit Hole'.

"Belle!" a voice called out.

The librarian turned to see who had called her name. She saw a familiar black car had stopped next to her.

"Regina! What are you doing here?" Belle asked as she approached the car.

"I was about to ask you the same thing." The mayor said.

"Are you busy? I was hoping that maybe we could talk." The brunette asked almost in a whisper.

"Oh!" Belle was surprised. But then again, it could get pretty lonely being awake in a curse like this one.

"Sure." The redhead could tell that whatever Regina needed to share with her was far more important than her stalking her 'friend'.

"Good! Hop in!" Regina leaned to the passenger door to open it for Belle to enter.

The redhead complied and entered the car. She looked at the reflection of the bar in Regina's side mirror getting smaller as they drove away.

*.*.*.*.*

Emma emptied out Henry's backpack to look at the storybook he always carried with him. The book fell onto the hospital bed with a thud.

The blonde picked it up and felt a jolt as visions of another world appeared in her mind.

She saw Mary Margaret with long hair giving birth to a baby while squeezing David's hand. The two of them smiling at the new member of their family that was wrapped in a blanket familiar to Emma with her name embroidered on the side. David fighting off some knights before placing the baby in a wardrobe. David getting stabbed by a sword by one of the knights. Regina is an elaborate outfit standing over a bleeding David with Mary Margaret crying over his body.

 _It's all real!_ Emma finally believed what Henry had been trying to tell her had been true all along!

The blonde felt a sense of anger towards Regina and wanted to confront the woman and have her fix what she did to her son.

The sheriff whipped out her cell phone and dialled the mayor's number. There was no answer. Regina had turned her phone off.

Emma walked over to Doctor Whale. The blonde doctor and the rest of the medical staff working on the patient looked occupied.

The sheriff figured that if there was an update on the boy's condition, they would contact her about it.

Emma had some scores to settle with the Evil Queen. The blonde brought the book along with her and left the hospital.

*.*.*.*.*

Regina had brought Belle to the library. She did not want to run the risk of Emma finding her.

The two women sat at a table deep in the library. The librarian had only turned the lights on at the back so that they could have some privacy.

"You did a good job with the library. Are you thinking of opening it soon?" the brunette asked.

"Regina, I know you did not bring me here to talk about the library." The redhead could see through the mayor. "What's going on? Are you having trouble breaking the curse?" Belle asked.

"I found a solution." The brunette said.

"Oh! But it did not work?" the librarian was confused.

"I haven't exactly tried."

"I see. What is it?" Belle asked, intrigued.

"True Love's Kiss," Regina said.

The redhead nodded her head.

"It is the most powerful magic. It almost broke Rumple's Dark One curse." Belle recalled.

Regina was the one to inform her that the kiss would work but it only works if the person who was cursed had wanted the curse to break. Rumplestiltskin chose power over love.

"So all you have to do it kiss Henry, right?" the redhead asked.

"I've already tried that. Even though I love Henry, he did not truly love me." Regina said sadly.

"Oh." Was all Belle could say.

"There is still hope, I guess…" the brunette said slowly. "Gold did not curse Henry. He cursed me." She continued.

"Yes…" Belle was surprised that the Queen was only just realising this fact.

"So if I find true love… there may be a chance to break this curse." Regina said shyly.

The redhead was taken aback by how the mayor was talking. She almost sounded like a teenager talking about love.

"Do you have a prince charming in Storybrooke?" the librarian was curious who the Evil Queen was attracted to.

"Not exactly. Well… it's probably not even true love at all." The mayor said dismissively.

"Who is it?!" Belle felt like she was at the climax of one of her favourite books anticipating a shocking revelation.

"Lately I've been feeling a sense of connection with this person and before the reset, we… almost kissed." Regina couldn't help blushing whilst sharing this information. She had no idea how much she needed to hear it out loud.

"You almost kissed Emma?!" Belle blurted out.

The mayor's jaw fell to the floor.

"How did you know it was Emma?" Regina asked.

"I thought the two of you were already in a relationship with each other. The redhead admitted.

"You've only just met Emma." The brunette pointed out.

"The two of you are so obvious. I thought that you had raised Henry together and had a bad break up but still had feelings for each other."

The mayor stared blankly at the librarian. She felt mortified that she and the sheriff were giving off that vibe.

Belle had been locked up for ages. She had no idea what she was talking about. Regina reasoned.

"Why aren't you off kissing Emma and breaking the curse already?" the redhead was curious and also could not wait to spend a brand new day in Storybrooke without having everybody she met forgetting who she was especially a certain waitress.

"Because, right now, Emma wants to kill me for poisoning our son," Regina explained.

"Oh." Belle was definitely missing a lot of information of what Regina was going through.

"Why are you telling me all this?" the redhead was curious. The two of them were most definitely not friends. Regina may have given her the library but she had almost killed her to get her way.

"I don't have anybody else to talk to. I needed to talk to somebody not affected by the curse." Belle could relate.

"Yes, this curse can make you feel quite alone." The brunette agreed.

She suddenly remembered it was odd that she found Belle standing outside the Rabbit Hole earlier that night.

"What were you doing outside the bar? I did not peg you as the drinker." Regina asked.

The librarian could feel her cheeks burning red.

"I was… I saw Ruby go there and I wanted to see what it was like." The redhead stammered.

The mayor recalled Ruby had helped provide the bookworm with a place to stay at the inn. The waitress was probably the first friend she made in town. Regina almost asked why she didn't just join Ruby but stopped herself when she remembered the waitress probably did not know who Belle was.

"I'm sorry that the only friend you made in town did not remember who you are. If you want, I can put a false memory in Ruby's head so that she at least remembered meeting you." The mayor offered.

The librarian was surprised by the generosity.

"You can do that?" Belle asked.

"If the rules of the Dark Curse are still in place, I probably can." The mayor smiled.

"If this works, you could probably do the same to Emma. So she remembers the time you two almost kissed." The redhead suggested.

"I'm afraid that won't work. Emma escaped the Dark Curse." Regina explained.

"I see… why are you helping me?" Belle was curious.

"I felt like helping out a friend." The brunette smiled at the redhead.

"Do you want to go to the bar?" Regina asked with a smirk.

* * *

 **A/N: More drinking Regina?**


	18. Chapter 17

**A/N: Sorry it took so long for the update. Here is Chapter Seventeen.**

* * *

Regina and Belle sat at a table in the corner of the bar. It wasn't difficult to get a table for the mayor. The ladies spotted Ruby's friends seated at the table in the middle of the bar. Ruby, however, was nowhere in sight.

"Maybe she went to the restroom and there was a line?" Belle guessed after watching the two ladies for over half an hour.

"Maybe." Regina agreed but she could tell that something was not right as Ruby's friends looked pretty worried.

"I'm just going to ask them. Maybe she had left?" The mayor walked over to the two ladies.

The redhead nodded her head. She watched as Regina talked to the blonde and brunette at the centre table. The mayor did not take too long as she was already heading back over to Belle.

"They said that Ruby had been missing for almost an hour. They had already checked the restroom she wasn't there. They had been trying to contact her but she hasn't responded." Regina said.

"Did something bad happen to her? She was fine when I first met her near the library around midnight." The redhead was really concerned.

"Let's go find her." The mayor suggested.

The two women left the bar and got into the Mercedes.

*.*.*.*.*

Emma had already tried Regina's office and home. The mayor was nowhere to be found. Her car was also gone. The blonde drove around town to find the Evil Queen. She wasn't going to give up until she could confront the woman responsible for hurting Henry.

She drove past the Rabbit Hole and saw a familiar black Mercedes Benz drove off. By the look of it, Regina wasn't alone. Emma decided to tail the mayor.

*.*.*.*.*

Regina was driving around for a while when she saw a familiar yellow Bug in the rearview mirror. Emma had found her and was clearly following her.

"Oh no!" The brunette said.

"What's wrong?" Belle asked, concerned.

"It's Emma. She is tailing me." The brunette answered. "Hold on."

Regina stepped on the accelerator, to try and lose the blonde. It wasn't easy to shake Emma off as she was a bails bonds person. She probably had a few car chasing experience under her belt.

Not wanting to get seriously injured, Regina pounded the brake and magicked her car to the middle of the woods. She nearly got hit by the Volkswagen.

Belle was surprised to find herself in the middle of the woods but she was relieved to not still be in a car chase.

"Are you okay?" Regina asked her passenger.

"I think so." The redhead replied.

"Come on. We can't keep driving around. Emma is determined to look for me." The mayor said as she started to get out of the car. Belle did the same.

The mayor waved a hand in front of the car making it disappear in a cloud of purple smoke.

"Where are we?" the redhead asked.

Belle was not expecting to have such an exciting night. All she wanted was a friend.

"We need to have a more efficient way of locating Ruby," Regina said, ignoring Belle's question. "Do you have anything that belonged to Ruby with you?" the brunette asked.

"I have her clothes at the library." The redhead said.

"That'll do." Regina waved both of her hands transporting the two of them out of the woods.

*.*.*.*.*

Emma slammed on the brakes. She braced herself for the inevitable impact of crashing into the mayor's car that had suddenly stopped inches in front of her. But the crash did not happen.

The blonde looked forward and saw a purple cloud surrounding her car. When the smoke finally dissipated, she found that the mayor's car had disappeared.

Emma got out of the car to inspect the road around her to see if there were any sign of the Evil Queen.

"What the hell?" she said to herself, confused as to what had happened.

*.*.*.*.*

Regina had teleported to the library with Belle to retrieve Ruby's jeans. She then teleported to her vault to create a potion that would allow her to track down the waitress.

"Thank you, Regina, for going through all of this trouble," Belle said as she walked closer to the brunette's jars of potion making ingredients.

"I'm not really doing this for you. I just needed a distraction." Regina said nonchalantly.

"Oh." The redhead looked embarrassed for assuming the Mayor helping her.

The brunette noticed that she had offended the librarian.

"I'm sorry. I meant that…" Regina tried to explain but was cut off by the redhead.

"It's okay. As long as Ruby is safe, I don't need to know your reason for helping." Belle said simply.

"Right." The mayor said under her breath and carried on with the mission.

The two women remained silent after the awkward conversation. Regina finally completed her potion. She took the pair of Ruby's jeans Belle brought and emptied the contents of a vial all over the piece of clothing.

The pair of jeans started floating and flew out of the chamber of the vault, down the passageway and finally out of the mausoleum.

Belle and Regina followed the enchanted jeans that were leading them to its owner.

*.*.*.*.*

Emma had recalled that Graham had mentioned his heart was in Regina's family mausoleum. She decided to drive there and try her luck at finding the mayor there.

She was nearing the graveyard when something strange caught her eye. _Is that a pair of flying jeans?_ Emma asked herself.

The sheriff stopped her car and stared at the jeans slowly floating past her. She turned to see the direction the jeans came from. It was the graveyard! She concluded that Regina was definitely there and was probably the one who enchanted the jeans.

As much as Emma wanted to confront the mayor about poisoning Henry, she was at that moment more curious about what the brunette was up to.

It didn't take long before Regina emerged with a redhead Emma had never met before by the brunette's side. Both women shielded their eyes from the bright lights coming from the blonde's headlights.

*.*.*.*.*

Regina had accepted that there was no use avoiding Emma anymore that night. She had sent Belle to follow the jeans. She gave the redhead her cell phone after quickly showing her how to use it and told her to call Emma if there was trouble. She had a feeling that she was going to be stuck with the blonde for a while.

"What do you want, Miss Swan?" the mayor asked.

"Are you starting a literal version of Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants?" Emma asked sarcastically.

"That is none of your concern. You've been chasing me. So tell me what it is that you want, Ms. Swan?" Regina was growing tired. She wanted the confrontation to be over and done with.

"Henry ate the apple turnover you poisoned." The blonde said, anger slowly building as she remembered what she was there for.

"I know," Regina said sadly.

"Don't you care that your son is dying?!" Emma was furious.

"Of course I care. I've made a mistake in trying to poison you. Magic came with a price and Henry ended up being the one to pay it." Regina was on the verge of tears.

"Can't you fix this?" The blonde asked, slowly calming down from her anger.

"There is another curse that is preventing Henry from waking up." The mayor explained.

"What? Another curse? Who cast it?" Emma walked up closer to Regina.

The distance was too close for comfort. The mayor breathed deep to suppress her emotions.

"Gold. He cursed me to relive Henry's death over and over again. I've spent many days trying to break this curse. I'm getting close to giving up." The mayor confessed.

Emma tried to process the information. She could not imagine what the brunette was going through.

"So you are the only one who notices the day repeating itself?" The blonde asked.

"Not exactly. There is Gold of course and Belle." Regina answered.

"The one who was chasing the flying jeans?" Emma cocked a brow.

"Yes." The mayor smiled at the ridiculousness of the imagery that escaped her mind while casting the spell to enchant the jeans.

Regina suddenly had a realisation. All the times when she avoided Emma, the blonde would remain at the hospital. It was odd that the sheriff hunted her down.

"What happened before you left the hospital?" the mayor asked, suddenly getting serious.

"I disagree with Doctor Whale about the cause of Henry's condition. "Emma answered, puzzled at the change of topic.

"No. After that." The mayor tried her best to be as patient as possible.

"Oh." Emma thought for a while. "I looked for Henry's book in his backpack and had a vision of another realm." The blonde finally said.

"The book went back to its original location just like when it first happened." The mayor thought out loud. Emma was completely lost.

"Come on! I think we can try to wake him up now!" Regina did not wait for Emma's response and got in the blonde's car.

Emma opened her mouth to say something but stopped when her phone rang.

She took her phone out of her back pocket and looked at the name flashing on the screen 'Regina'.

Emma ran to the passenger door and opened it to pass her phone to the brunette.

Regina was confused for a moment to see her phone was calling Emma's. She quickly remembered she had given her phone to Belle so that the redhead could reach her.

She answered the phone. "Belle? Have you found Ruby?" Regina asked.

"Not yet but I saw the jeans stop outside Rumple's shop." The redhead sounded very concerned. She had every right to be. Ruby did not have any contact with the Dark One the other repeated days.

"We'll be right there." The mayor said before hanging up the phone.

Emma was surprised to be dragged into this. She still had no clue of what was going on.

"We?" the blonde asked confused.

"Ruby may be in danger. We've been trying to locate her all night."

"I didn't know you cared for Ruby," Emma said.

"I don't but Belle does," Regina said simply as if caring for people who are not related to her is a normal occurrence.

The blonde got into the driver's seat and drove Regina to Mr. Gold's shop.

* * *

 **A/N: Regina is a little sidetracked on the breaking of the curse. Whatever is Ruby doing at Mr. Gold's Pawnshop? Or What is Gold doing to Ruby?!**


	19. Chapter 18

Belle picked up the pair of jeans that laid at the doorstep of Rumple's shop. She was unable to tell if her former lover was still in the shop but she did not want to risk him finding out about the tracking spell.

The fact that Ruby was in the shop that late at night was cause for concern. She knew that nobody paid a visit to the pawnshop that night except for Regina on a couple of occasions.

The redhead went through a few scenarios in her head on why Ruby would be there. None of the scenarios she could think of was positive. She knew it was Rumple who brought her over.

She peeked through the window. The blinds were obscuring her view but she could see a hint of light coming from the back room.

Rumple was definitely still there. _What is he doing with Ruby?_ Belle asked herself.

The redhead decided to hide and keep a lookout for Rumple while waiting for Regina and Emma to arrive. She crossed the road and entered a narrow alley. Belle remained in the cover of the shadows while she kept an eye on the front door of the pawnshop.

*.*.*.*.*

Emma and Regina drove in silence to Mr Gold's pawnshop. The brunette wanted to finish helping Belle as soon as possible so that she could try her theory on waking Henry up.

The blonde was confused about her emotions towards the mayor. She wanted to tear her apart hours ago but now she was working with her nemesis to help some woman named Belle.

Emma figured that she could resume her processing the whole curse thing after they figured out what happened to Ruby. She considered the waitress a friend and would not want anything bad to happen.

The two women pulled up adjacent to the shop. They looked around to see if they could spot the redhead anywhere.

Regina frowned as she tried to locate Belle. A sudden tapping on the windows made her jump. She turned to see the source of the sound.

The mayor rolled her eyes when she saw Belle at the passenger side window. She rolled the window down.

"I've been keeping watch. I did not see Rumple leave the shop. I'm not even sure if he is inside." The redhead informed the two women in the car.

"Seems like we just need to find out for ourselves," Regina said as she unbuckled her seatbelt.

Emma grabbed the brunette's arm before she could open the car door.

"Whoa! You're not going to just barge in there, are you? Gold is scary enough without magic. I can't imagine what he'll do _with_ magic!" The blonde reasoned.

"Nothing I can't handle on my own." The sorceress said confidently.

"Even so, we don't even know if Ruby is in trouble. Maybe we should confirm he has her captured or something before we jump to conclusion." Emma explained.

"So what do you propose we do, Ms. Swan?" The mayor asked curiously.

"Let me go in there and find out what he is up to. I can pretend to ask him to help me with Henry. The two of you can sneak in the back and see if Ruby is there." The sheriff suggested.

"Sounds like a plan." Belle agreed.

Regina put her best poker face on. She was so close to kissing Emma's luscious lips hours ago. She felt giddy with excitement like a little school girl being this close to the blonde and hearing her speak.

The brunette shook the thought out of her head. She found deep green orbs staring at her expectantly. _Shit!_

"Are you okay?" Emma asked.

"Yes," Regina said a little too quickly.

"I meant with the plan." The blonde clarified.

"I _was_ talking about the plan." The mayor said defensively.

"Alright then," Emma said, a little confused by the brunette's behaviour.

"We should get into position before Emma enters the shop," Belle suggested, trying her best to not pry too much attention on Regina's obvious lusting for the blonde.

"Let's go." The mayor said as she exited the car.

She was more than eager to get as far away from her crush as possible. Regina grabbed Belle's arm and headed to the back alley behind Mr. Gold's pawnshop.

 _That is definitely weird._ Emma thought to herself.

*.*.*.*.*

"So…" Belle whispered as soon as she and Regina got far enough from Emma's car.

"What?!" the brunette hissed. She knew what the librarian was going to ask.

"Did you tell Emma how you feel about her?" the redhead asked.

"This is not the time nor the place to discuss this." Regina snapped, shutting down that topic of conversation. She crossed the road while Belle trailed behind.

The two women stationed themselves outside the back door. Belle pressed her ear to the door to listen out for movement.

The mayor tried to peek into the window through a slit in the blinds to see if she could spot Ruby or Rumple. Gold was always secretive. He wouldn't risk anybody finding out what he was up to. Regina could see some movement but all she could see were shadows.

She kept her eyes peeled for any indication that Emma's distraction was underway. The mayor avoided eye contact with Belle who seemed to have forgotten what they were there for.

*.*.*.*.*

Emma tried to open the front door of Mr. Gold's Pawnshop but it was locked. She took out a torchlight, turned it on and placed the back end between her teeth. She took out her lock picks that she had taken from her car and got on her knees.

The sheriff had learnt to pick locks from Henry's father, Neal. That was before he double-crossed her and abandoned her without knowing that he had fathered a child.

Within a minute, Emma was able to successfully unlock the door. She stood back up and opened the door forcefully, ringing the bell that hung above the entrance.

"Gold?" The blonde called out. "Are you here?"

Emma remained close to the front door so that she could hopefully get Mr. Gold to go closer to her and away from the back room.

"Gold?" She called out again, louder this time.

The sheriff could hear some movement from the back room. It didn't take long before the shop owner emerged through the curtained doorframe.

"I'm pretty sure I locked that door." Mr Gold looked pointedly at Emma. "What is it you want, Sheriff Swan?" He was clearly unhappy to see his unwelcome visitor.

"Regina had poisoned Henry with a sleeping curse. I need your help to wake him up." The sheriff did her best acting. She didn't need to try too hard since it came from a very real place.

"Sleeping curse?" Rumplestiltskin pretended to be confused by the information.

"I know you are Rumplestiltskin and you have magical powers." The blonde said.

"I'm afraid there is nothing I can do to help you." The old man dismissed the blonde and turned to head back into the back room.

"I know that in another realm, you are a very powerful man. You have the most powerful magic." Emma did her best to keep Mr. Gold in the front of the shop so that Belle and Regina could look for Ruby in the back.

The Dark One stopped in his tracks and turned around to face the sheriff.

"I may be powerful, but the sleeping curse is unbreakable, dearie." He lied.

"There has to be a way!" the blonde pretended to cry to sell the story.

Rumple looked at the blonde. He could relate to the pain of losing a child. But he knew that there was no real way of waking Henry without breaking the other curse first.

"I'm sorry. There is nothing I can do to break that curse." Mr. Gold said regretfully.

The sheriff was quick on her toes.

"Well, in that case, I need help to make Regina suffer for what she had done," Emma said.

Mr. Gold smirked.

"I can definitely help you with that."

*.*.*.*.*

Regina saw a shadow leave the room. She assumed it was Gold. The mayor unlocked the door with her magic.

Belle entered the room first. The brunette followed close behind. The redhead immediately saw Ruby unconscious on a bed. She rushed over to her friend shaking her to wake her up.

Regina looked around the room for a clue as to what happened to the waitress. She saw a long needle on a table next to the bed. She picked it up to inspect it. _Blood._

"She's under a sleeping curse." The mayor whispered.

"What?! No!" The redhead exclaimed in a hushed voice.

"Come on, let's get out of here," Regina suggested making sure to keep her volume low so that Mr. Gold couldn't hear.

"No. I need to have a word with The Dark One."

Before the mayor could stop her, Belle had already slipped out of the room.

Rumplestiltskin had his back turned. The redhead could see Emma talking to her former lover.

"You cursed her?!" the librarian accused.

Rumple swung around to the source of the voice.

"Belle!" Mr Gold gasped.

"Why did you do that?"

Even though none of the answers he could provide would justify his actions, Belle still wanted to know his reason.

"She was going to steal you away from me." Rumple calmly explained.

"She couldn't have stolen me from you because I am not yours to possess." The redhead said.

The words stabbed The Dark One right in the heart. He had believed that the separation was just temporary and that Belle still had feelings for him. It was clear now that she doesn't feel the same.

Regina couldn't help but smirk as she eavesdropped on the drama, in the back room.

The librarian signalled to Emma to join her in the back where Regina had been waiting with Ruby.

"Belle…" Rumple pleaded as he followed the women.

The redhead ignored him and cradled Ruby's lifeless body in her arms.

The mayor smiled as the four women disappeared in a cloud of purplish smoke.


	20. Chapter 19

**A/N: I'm so sorry this took so long. I have my night classes now and work is really keeping me busy. The next update may take a while. I hope you guys enjoy this chapter. Will post another update once I have a little bit of free time.**

* * *

Belle sat on a chair next to her bed where Ruby laid. Regina had brought all of them including Emma back to the library to discuss what they were going to do next. Both the blonde and the brunette were standing a few feet away from the bed.

The redhead felt that it was all her fault for building a friendship with the waitress. She should have known better than to openly be happy around other people as her ex-boyfriend is a possessive jealous monster.

"So Ruby is under the same sleeping curse as Henry?" Emma asked the other two women.

"Yes," Regina replied.

"How do we wake her up?" the blonde asked.

"True love's kiss," Belle replied.

"And that would be?" Emma asked yet another question.

The librarian and the mayor looked at one another. Both wondering the same question but neither one of them dared to verbalise the answer.

"Wasn't she seeing that mechanic? Billy?" the sheriff asked.

"Billy is a mouse, not her true love." The brunette was starting to get irritated by the questioning.

"A mouse? You mean he is timid or…" Emma said.

"He is one of Cinderella's rodent." Regina rolled her eyes.

"She doesn't have a true love." The redhead said sadly.

The brunette walked over to where Belle was sitting and placed a comforting hand on her shoulder.

"Rumple felt threatened by her friendship with you for a reason." Regina pointed out.

"Are you suggesting that _I_ am Ruby's true love?" the librarian asked.

The mayor simply shrugged.

"So if Belle kissed Ruby, she'll wake up?" The sheriff asked.

"No. Ruby is also under the Dark Curse. Right now she doesn't even know of Belle's existence." The brunette said simply.

"She met me with her cursed persona. You can give her the memory of meeting me right?" Belle said hopefully.

Regina took in a deep breath. She knew she promised the young librarian that she was able to help the waitress recognise Belle but with Ruby unconscious, she can't fulfil her promise.

"I'm sorry Belle, I will need Ruby to be awake for me to do that." The mayor apologised.

The redhead stood up suddenly and turned to face Regina and looked in her eyes.

"You need to break the curse! The one that Rumple cast on you." The librarian pleaded.

Regina looked at the unconscious waitress and then back at Belle. She nodded her head.

*.*.*.*.*

The mayor knew what Belle was asking her to do to break the curse but she was not going to simply kiss Emma if she could avoid it. Regina had brought the sheriff to the storeroom in Henry's hospital room without filling her in on what was going on.

She did not tell Belle where they were going for fear that the redhead would blurt out for the mayor to kiss the blonde. As far as the librarian was concerned, Regina went off to make out with Emma.

"Why are we here?" the blonde asked, confused by her surroundings.

"All the other times I tried to break the curse, Henry's storybook was missing," Regina said.

Emma furrowed her brow at the information because she found the book in Henry's backpack.

"In the last time loop, we found the book back in the same place Mary Margaret found it the first time. I believe that since the book is back, then maybe we could break the sleeping curse the same way we did it the first time, by you kissing Henry." The mayor finished.

"You think this will work?" the sheriff asked.

"It's worth a try."

The blonde opened the door leading them to their son's hospital bed. She looked at the boy. He was still breathing but he looked weaker than when she last saw him.

Regina watched from the foot of Henry's bed as his other mother stood next to him and prepared to wake him from the curse.

Emma Swan leaned down, closed her eyes and kissed Henry on the forehead. She stood back up and opened her eyes as she waited for a sign of the boy waking up.

 _Nothing._

*.*.*.*.*

Mr Gold knew that there was a chance that Belle would find out about him kidnapping Ruby. He had already come to terms with the fact that the redhead would never ever come back to him ever again but to actually see it happen hurts him a lot. The only comfort he had was that there was no way that the waitress would wake up.

The Dark One picked up the needle on the table and looked at the bloodied tip. He smirked, pleased with the work he had done.

He wiped the blood off the needle with a piece of cloth from the table. He walked over to his spinning wheel and placed the needle back in its place before vanishing it back to where he normally kept it in his house.

"I'm glad you are finally moving on from your pathetic relationship with the maid." A female voice Rumple had not heard for many years said.

He turned around to see if he was hearing things.

The sorcerer was surprised to see a woman he thought was dead standing in front of him.

"Cora." He said in a whisper.

Cora smiled as she said, "Hello Rumple."

*.*.*.*.*

"It didn't work! Why didn't it work?" Emma was confused.

Regina was really banking on her theory working.

The blonde walked up to the other mother.

"I don't get it. It looked like you and Belle were certain that this would work." Emma said.

"There is another way… but you are not going to like it." The brunette said cautiously.

"What is it?"

"Gold cast the time loop curse on me. It is a powerful curse much like the sleeping curse. Since you had already broken the sleeping curse together with the Dark Curse before he cast the new curse, the time loop curse needs to be broken first to wake Henry up." Regina explained slowly.

"So how do we break the time loop curse?"

The brunette avoided eye contact. "True love's kiss."

"So… who is your true love?"

The mayor turned away and distanced herself from the other woman. She felt conflicted. She knew that she could not avoid trying the one sure way of breaking the curse but she also knew that this time loop version of Emma did not have feelings for her. But she needed to try. She just had to for the sake of her son and for the sake of her sanity.

"Regina? Come on! How long do you want this curse to drag on for? Just tell me. I won't judge you." Emma walked over to Regina and placed a hand on the brunette's shoulder.

The mayor took a deep breath, savouring the blonde's small tender touch. The voice in her head rehearsing how she was going to explain to the woman who had been at the receiving end of the brunette's many attempts at destroying the sheriff's life that she was the mayor's, true love.

"It's you." The brunette said quietly in a pained whisper.

"What?" the blonde thought that she had heard wrong.

The brunette sighed and turned to face the sheriff. There was no turning back now.

The brunette had tears in her eyes. She took the blonde's hand in hers and looked deep into her eyes as she confessed. "My true love is you, Emma."

* * *

 **A/N: A cliffhanger? Oh dear. I'm really sorry that I'm leaving it here (also not really). What do you guys think Cora had planned and how the hell did she get there? Let me know what you guys think.**


	21. Chapter 20

**A/N: I'm sorry this took a while. My schedule had been really busy with work and studies. This chapter is very necessary before we continue on with where Emma and Regina left off. It will take a while before we carry on with that story line.**

* * *

Twenty-eight years ago, before the Evil Queen had cast the Dark Curse, she had one thing to take care of: her mother, Cora.

Cora had taught Regina a very valuable lesson, "love is weakness". As long as the Evil Queen loves someone, she could fail and the queen did not want that to happen.

The brunette hired a pirate named Captain Hook and sent him to a land called Wonderland where her mother ruled as the Queen of Hearts. He was sent there to rip out the heart of the Wonderland Queen and kill her.

However, what Regina did not know was Captain Hook went back on their agreement. Her mother had made a deal with the one-handed pirate to bring Cora back to the Enchanted Forrest where she can kill her daughter for trying to kill her.

The pirate brought Cora back to the Enchanted Forrest where she pretended to be dead. The Queen of Hearts changed her mind when she found out why Regina had tried to kill her as the Evil Queen cried over her 'dead' body.

She knew that her daughter will need help to win after the curse broke and so she waited together with Captain Hook on a small part of the Enchanted Forrest. She cast a protection spell that prevented them from being swept up into the cursed land. They remained frozen in time until the curse broke.

After the curse had broken, the two of them needed to travel to the land without magic. The pirate had with him an old magic bean that had dried up and lost its magic. They decided to take a detour to a place called Lake Nostos that had water with rejuvenating properties to return the magic back to the bean so that they could use it.

When they arrived at the lake, they found that it had dried up. The Captain was disappointed that they travelled there for nothing but Cora quickly used her magic to dig deep into the sand and released a burst of water from the underground spring.

Once the water had settled, the pirate took an empty flask that he used to drink rum from and filled it with the water from the lake. He poured a tiny bit of water onto the bean and the magic bean quickly changed from its black hardened shell to a shiny, sparkling bean.

Cora and the pirate looked at one another satisfied that the plan had worked. The sorceress teleported the two of them onto the pirate's ship and they sailed out to sea. When they were in deep enough water, Captain Hook tossed the bean into the sea.

The water started swirling, creating a whirlpool. The whirlpool grew bigger and swallowed up the ship. The two travellers braced themselves as the ship fell straight into the middle of the swirling waters.

The ship emerged in the sea of a foreign realm. The land without magic.

*.*.*.*.*

"What did you do to my ship?" Captain Hook asked his companion.

"Relax, Hook. I've only placed a cloaking spell on it. I don't want my daughter to know we are here." Cora explained sweetly.

The pirate relaxed.

Upon emerging out of the water, the sorceress had used her magic to dry their clothing and made the ship invisible to the naked eye.

The elderly woman saw two fishermen nearby. She strode over to them as the one-handed pirate tailed behind.

"Can I help you?" the burly fisherman asked.

"As a matter of fact, yes." The sorceress said as she twirled her hand causing both fishermen to twist their necks awkwardly, killing them instantly. Their bodies collapsed on the jetty.

"What did you do that for?" the captain asked.

"We need disguises if we were to blend in unnoticed." She replied.

Cora waved a hand over the bodies making them disappear. She waved her arms in a circle over her head.

Hook looked curiously at the witch.

"You look the same." He commented.

"Of course you wouldn't see it. But to others, we are the two fishermen I've just killed." Cora smiled.

The pirate raised his hook and looked at his reflection. The old burly fisherman stared back at him.

"Bloody hell." He exclaimed.

 _Of course, Cora would pick the younger taller one out of the two._ Captain Hook thought to himself.

*.*.*.*.*.

Killian Jones, also known as Captain Hook, had waited years, centuries even to avenge the death of his lover, Milah.

Milah went on adventures with Killian after leaving her husband, Rumplestiltskin, after she couldn't take the repercussions of his action to desert the ogre war.

Filled with hatred and embarrassment, Milah left her young son, husband and her life behind for adventures after falling in love with Killian Jones.

Rumplestiltskin attempted to bring her back. Killian challenged him to a sword fight which Rumple lost.

Years later, after becoming the Dark One, Rumplestiltskin crossed paths with the pirate again. He asked Killian about Milah and the Captain informed him that she had died a long time ago.

Rumple challenged Killian to fight in a duel the next day. Just when the Dark One was about to crush the pirate's heart, Milah appeared and stopped him.

It turned out that Milah had been alive the whole time. Milah convinced Rumple to spare them by trading it for a magic bean that the Dark One had been trying to get hold of. She did not know at that time that Rumple needed the bean to get to the land without magic to be reunited with their son.

The bean was back on the pirate ship. All three of them went to the ship to retrieve it. Milah showed the bean to Rumple and passed it to Killian before she asked her former husband that they go their separate ways.

Rumple had just one more question for his former wife. He wanted to know how she could have abandoned their son. Milah answered truthfully that she was clouded by her misery.

"Why were you so miserable?" the Dark One asked.

"Because I never loved you," Milah replied.

Hurt by what his wife had said, Rumplestiltskin ripped out her heart. Killian tried to stop him but Rumple magicked a rope to tie him to the ship's mast.

When Killian finally broke free of the ropes, he was already too late. Rumple gripped the heart tightly and crushed it in his hand until it turned to dust.

Thinking that the bean was still in pirate's hand, he slicked it clean off with a sword.

The Captain picked up a hook and stabbed the Dark One in the chest with it. He failed to kill Rumplestiltskin because the Dark One was invincible.

Satisfied that he had gotten the bean, Rumple vanished from the ship with the severed hand only to discover that the bean wasn't there.

Killian still had the bean with him. He swore to kill the Dark One with the hook and he wore it to replace his missing hand. He used the bean to travel to Neverland where he remained never aging, while he figured out a way to carry out his revenge on 'The Crocodile', Rumplestiltskin.

*.*.*.*.*.

"What's the plan?" Hook asked Cora.

"We shall blend in and learn more about this town."

The older woman did not need to hear what the pirate thought of the plan. She could feel his frustration miles away but they needed to be smart about this. Regina did not know that Cora was alive. The Evil Queen may not be accepting of Cora's presence if she just showed up out of nowhere. She wanted to make sure that Regina was at the lowest point in her life where she needed her mother the most. That would be the best time to reconcile their relationship and help Regina be the most powerful queen of all just like she was meant to be.


	22. Chapter 21

**A/N: Another update! Yay! Managed to squeeze this one in my tight schedule. I'm thankful that my beta reader Chrimsonmoon managed to edit this fast.**

* * *

Cora found that the best place to gather information was at the local eatery known as Granny's Diner. Almost everybody in town stops there at least once within a day.

Each day, Cora and Hook in their disguises spent the afternoon at the booth in the diner. It took a few days before Cora realised the days had repeated itself. The same exact people walked in at exactly the same time and had the same conversations each day. The only differences were a young redhead, a blonde who was often seen with Regina, Regina herself and Rumple.

She figured that they were not affected by the curse. Cora quickly suspected the Dark One was behind it, as he always was.

"I can't stand another day of this!" the pirate whined.

"We have to act like we are cursed." The elder brunette replied in a hushed voice.

"Nobody will notice if we were missing." Hook pointed out.

"Rumple would and if he caught us, your chance at revenge will never come."

The pirate went silent. He knew she had a point but he was going insane. So was Cora but this was too important for her to let Hook screw everything up.

So far she had learnt that there was a curse that repeats the day over and over at precisely 8.15 p.m., there was magic in the land somehow, Regina shares a son who was currently in a coma with the blonde, Rumple and the redhead used to be involved but she broke up with him, and the redhead was into the waitress who dressed as a common whore.

If Cora could find a way to help Regina with her son, that could be her olive branch to win her daughter over.

One day, weeks later, Cora had followed Regina around discretely as a cat. She sat outside of an apartment where Snow White lived. She saw Regina almost kissing the blonde to break the curse.

 _Regina, is_ _attempting True Love's Kiss?_ Cora shuddered at the thought of her daughter using light magic. If Regina has light magic, she would never accept Cora back into her life.

The sorceress needed to act fast to end the curse on her daughter's behalf before Regina succeeds in harnessing the most powerful light magic of all.

*.*.*.*.*.

"What brings you to Storybrooke?" Rumple asked the woman before him calmly, hiding any signs of panic.

"Why, my daughter Regina of course." Cora smiled a toothy smile.

"Oh yes. And how is the family reunion coming along?" the Dark One asked.

Cora wandered around the store, touching each item within her reach.

"A little delayed due to some curse you cast."

Rumple mocked being shocked by the information.

"Well, I apologise for getting in the way of your plans." He said.

"I'm sure you can find a way to make it up to me," Cora said as she began to come closer to the store owner.

"And what may I ask would that be?"

The sorceress touched the lapels of Rumple's suit.

"You tell me how to break this curse," Cora said, her face inches from the Dark One.

"And why on Earth would I do that?" Rumple scoffed.

"Let's face it, you have nothing going for you, Rumple. Except for your son."

This caught the Dark One's attention.

"And I know that you would have gone out to find him instead of sticking around watching my daughter suffer."

Rumple did not like that Cora knew all of this. He wondered how long she was in town for and why he was unable to notice her presence.

"Even if I wanted to help you, there is no way to break this curse."

Cora was disappointed by this news and she knew he wasn't lying as Regina would have found a way to break the curse by now. She was glad that her daughter did not attempt True Love's Kiss again.

"In that case, can you help me with my family reunion?" Cora asked in her sweetest voice. She knew somewhere deep in Rumple's heart was a weakness, love for Cora.

The Dark One tried his best to hide his feelings but he knew his former love could see through him.

"What do you have in mind?"

"I think her son is my way in. I need to help her get him out of the coma."

"For you to do that, the curse I cast will need to be broken first and we both know that is a dead end." Rumple pointed out. There was a hint of pride at the success of his curse.

"I'm sure you could think of something." Cora caressed his jaw. "You will help me reconcile my relationship with Regina, won't you?"

Rumple tried his best to suppress his past emotions for the woman before him.

"I will help you," he said, finally.

Cora's smile grew wide.

"That is the Rumple I know and love. Shall we seal the deal like how we used to?"

Rumple could feel his heart beating fast. It felt like how it was the first time he met Cora.

The two of them leaned in for a kiss that was far from chaste.

*.*.*.*.*.

"Say something." Regina pleaded.

Emma had stood in silent contemplation over the confession.

The blonde felt a series of emotion stirring inside of her. Rage being a predominant one. Sure, Regina was attractive. There had been moments when she had fantasised about the brunette but at that moment, all she saw was an evil person who had tried to kill her but ended up almost killing their son instead.

"What do you want me to say, Regina?!" Emma was furious. "How can I fall for someone like you? You tried to kill me today!"

The mayor could feel her heart-shattering in her chest. She put her poker face on, one she had practised all her life.

It's funny how she was in love with Emma but there were versions of Emma that loved her back and there were versions who wanted to tear her to pieces despite them being the same woman.

Regina wanted to run away from there. She could not contain her embarrassment for much longer. She searched for words to improve the situation.

"I know that I've hurt you, Emma. For you, it had been hours since I betrayed you but for me, I've had time to regret my actions, grow from my mistakes and eventually fall in love with you. I've had the pleasure of learning more about you and I felt your love for me in other versions of you. But unfortunately, tonight did not allow me to prove to you that I am a changed woman. If I could turn back time, I would but I can't. I know you hate me right now and I deserve it."

Emma clenched and unclenched her jaw. She was torn by her emotion of the situation and the sincerity of Regina's voice.

Even if the blonde had tried True Love's Kiss, she wasn't sure it would have worked since all she felt for Regina was contempt.

"I'm sorry. I need time to process this." Emma did not wait for a reply. She stormed out of the hospital room leaving the Evil Queen alone in the room with their dying son.

Regina watched as Emma disappeared out of sight. A single tear rolled down her cheek.


	23. Chapter 22

**A/N: The next chapter for Reset and Fighting Spirit may take some time. My schedule got really busy again. I hope you enjoy where the story is going.**

* * *

Regina sat, her face still wet with tears. She felt helpless and alone. _How stupid was I to think that she would actually love me?_ The brunette scolded herself.

She had sat next to Henry's bed for almost an hour, just being close to him helped her feel like she had someone to fight for. She could always try again with a different version of Emma but she felt the rejection too painful to repeat again.

"Regina." A familiar voice called for her at the door of the hospital room.

"Emma?" the brunette's jaw fell to the floor.

Emma walked over to where Regina was. The mayor stood up from her chair not sure what was going on.

Before Regina could read the expression on Emma's face, the blonde crashed her lips against the brunette's.

Regina was surprised by the kiss but welcomed it. It wasn't exactly what she expected. She thought that it would have been softer and full of love but she wasn't going to complain since she had wanted to taste those lips for so long.

Emma's tongue licked the brunette's lips requesting access. Regina moaned as she parted her lips. Tongues sliding making the mayor giddy with desire.

Suddenly, Regina came to her senses and pulled away breaking the kiss as she remembered a more pressing situation in the room. _Henry!_

She turned to see if the kiss had broken the curse.

Regina rushed over to Henry's side.

"It didn't work!" The brunette dropped to her knees on the floor.

She failed.

*.*.*.*.*

Emma didn't know where she was going but she needed to get away from Regina.

 _What was Regina thinking to confess her feelings like that?_ The blonde asked herself.

Sure the brunette was hot as hell but she _did_ try to kill the blonde just hours ago!

Emma rushed down the stairs, crossed the lobby and went out the door. Then all of a sudden, everything went black.

*.*.*.*.*

"Good work, Hook!" Cora was very pleased.

She was glad that the pirate was proving to be useful and had prevented any possibility of Regina attempting light magic.

Emma was still unconscious being tied up and gagged as she laid on the floor of the cabin of the Jolly Roger, Captain Hook's ship.

She was still unconscious when Cora had returned from her visit to Rumplestiltskin's shop.

"I've done what you wanted so when do I get to kill the crocodile?" Hook asked impatiently.

"You can't kill the Dark One without his dagger. We'll need to look for it. I'll need my daughter to help us with that." Cora explained slowly as if talking to a petulant child.

The pirate rolled his eyes. He knew that killing the Dark One was near impossible. That was why he had been searching for a way for centuries. He figured that he would just have to wait a little longer.

"I'll need you to be this _girl_ " Cora pointed to Emma "for a while and kiss Regina to show her that she could not successfully make True Love's Kiss."

Captain Hook arched an eyebrow at the mention of kissing the Evil Queen. His encounter with Regina had been more of her errand boy, not unlike his relationship with her mother. But he did not mind having a taste of the Queen.

After Milah's death, he had only had tasted bar wenches. He hadn't had much action for twenty-eight years.

Cora twirled her hand in the air, casting another glamour spell on the pirate changing his appearance to look like Emma Swan. She inspected her handy-work. She had made 'Emma's' appearance a little more brawny to distract Regina from being suspicious.

Captain Hook turned and checked himself out in the mirror next to him. _This Emma Swan is not that bad looking._ He thought to himself. To his dismay, when he looked down, he still saw his own body.

The older woman rolled her eyes before proceeding to brief the pirate of the plan.

*.*.*.*.*

"I'm sorry the kiss didn't work." Hook, who was disguised as Emma, said.

"No. I'm sorry. I thought what I felt was true love."

Both of them were silent. Regina was still on the floor. Hook shifted his feet, uncomfortable looking at how broken the once regal queen looked at that moment.

"What made you come back?" The brunette looked up at the blonde with sad eyes.

"I'm sorry?" Hook asked.

"You were angry at my confession earlier. I didn't think I would see you again. But here you are and… you kissed me." _And what a kiss that was._

"Oh!" The pirate thought about the answer as he rubbed his chin as a form of habit, surprised to feel his scruffy beard despite wearing Emma's skin. "I left the hospital to think about what you've said and I came across this sorceress who helped me sort out my feelings for you."

Regina got up off the ground.

"What sorceress?" the brunette's entire demeanour changed. She was more on edge.

"This lady seemed to know you and she told me she knows how to help break the curse should the kiss fail," Hook repeated what Cora had asked him to say.

"So the sorceress did not think the kiss would work?" _Why did you kiss me?_ Regina did not dare to ask the question.

"She said it might work if your magic had become light because True Love's Kiss is light magic." The pirate did his best to sound convincing.

He wondered if the kiss would have worked with the real Emma. He shook the thought of the two women kissing out of his head before he involuntarily blew his cover.

The mayor wanted to know if Emma shared the same feelings as her but she needed to focus on her son.

"We need the sorceress to break the curse." The brunette concluded.

The pirate nodded and opened the door. He poked his head out and signalled for the sorceress, who had been waiting behind the wall, to enter.

The sight of Cora instantly put Regina's guard up. She instinctively stood in front of Henry to protect him.

"Mother!" the brunette gasped.

"My dear, Regina. I've missed you." Cora said genuinely to her daughter.

"How is it possible?" Regina felt like she was in a bad dream.

"I needed to see you. I needed to tell you that I know why you sent me to Wonderland and why you tried to kill me. And… it's alright." Cora's voice was soft and vulnerable.

Regina was bewildered. "I think it's not alright."

Throwing your own mother into another realm and hiring a hit man to kill her is the opposite of a normal family. The mayor could not believe her mother would be okay with that.

"I love you Regina and I want us to be a family again." The older brunette said sincerely as she reached to hold her daughter's hands.

Regina did not know what to make of the situation. She turned to the blonde to seek some comfort.

Emma's eyes met Regina's. The blonde simply shrugged.

"I can help you break the curse and have your son back," Cora said.

"How?" Regina asked.

"We get hold of Rumple's dagger." The elder woman grinned.


	24. Chapter 23

**A/N: I had to change the rating to Mature. While I've always planned for this story to be rated Teen, this chapter required me to bring in rape into the storyline. While the rape itself is not explicit it can still be triggering for some. So to be safe, I have increased the rating of this story. However I'll still keep the rest of the descriptions and storytelling to Teen to keep the story consistent.**

* * *

"You think we can order the Dark One to undo the curse?" Regina asked her mother incredulously.

"Rumple is very powerful and if we have the dagger, he would have no choice but to do as he is told," Cora answered confidently.

"There is only one problem with that plan, we do not know where he kept the dagger." The mayor pointed out.

"Why don't you and The Saviour look for it while I go distract Rumple. Maybe his bookworm friend could divulge the whereabouts of the dagger."

Regina had so many questions on how her mother knew so much. She wondered how long Cora had been in town and why she wasn't able to notice.

The brunette didn't argue. She turned to Emma and nodded to indicate that they should go look for the Dark One's dagger. Regina wasn't comfortable leaving Henry with Cora but after the elder woman disappeared in a cloud of purple smoke, the brunette was relieved and left the hospital with the sheriff.

*.*.*.*.*

"How did it go?" Rumplestiltskin did not have to turn his back to see Cora had emerged behind him.

He could sense a connection to the woman. She was as intoxicating as the day they first met when he taught her magic.

"Better than expected," Cora said as she hugged Rumple from behind.

"Good."

"Now on to the next course of action…" the sorceress ran her hands down the Dark One's body and wrapped her fingers around the object concealed under Rumple's jacket.

Before the shop owner could stop her, Cora had already pulled out the dagger. Rumple turned to face the woman.

"Let's see if this is the real thing," Cora said as she fingered the engraving of Rumple's name across the blade of the dagger. It felt real enough but she needed to make sure.

Cora held out the dagger in front of the Dark One.

"Make love to me." The sorceress commanded.

Rumple moved forward and started kissing and undressing the brunette.

Cora's lips curled into a smile as she allowed the Dark One to perform the act on her.

*.*.*.*.*

"Regina? What happened? Has the curse been broken?" Belle asked when she saw the mayor in the library.

"The kiss didn't work." The brunette sounded disappointed and the redhead knew better than to press the matter further.

"Oh." was all she could manage.

"But we have another plan. We need to get hold of the Dark One's dagger."

Belle looked shocked. She knew what processing the dagger could do. She felt conflicted about the plan involving the ability to control her ex-lover. Even though she had moved on to having feelings for Ruby, she needed to make sure that Rumple would not be harmed.

"We need it to make Rumple undo his curses. Then Henry and Ruby can wake up from the sleeping curse."

Belle considered this information for a while.

"Unfortunately, Rumple kept the location of his dagger secret. When he was about to leave town to find his son, he hadn't brought the dagger with him."

"Then we're screwed," Emma said.

"Not necessarily."

Both Emma and Regina stared at Belle waiting for her to explain.

"So you do know the whereabouts of the Dark One's dagger?" The blonde asked impatiently.

"Possibly, if he hadn't changed its location that is."

The three women smiled at one another. Regina was cautious to not get her hopes up.

She had failed one too many times and she did not want to feel disheartened any more.

"Let's go find it," Emma said.

"We'll need a shovel." The redhead told the other two women.

Regina magicked a shovel in her hand.

"Check."

"Let's go," Belle said as they exited the library together.

*.*.*.*.*

Cora buttoned up the last couple of buttons on her blouse. Rumple had already finished getting dressed.

The whole time that the Dark One made love to her on the bed in the back room of the shop, Cora had not let go of the dagger once. She used it to instruct Rumple on exactly how she wanted him to make love to her.

"Enough fooling around, let's break some curse." Cora twirled her hand and a purple cloud engulfed both Rumple and her before they disappeared into thin air.

*.*.*.*.*

Belle, Emma and Regina had driven to the well where Rumple cast the curse. The librarian wasn't too sure where the dagger would be exactly.

Before heading out of town, Belle and Rumple had stopped by the well. The redhead was asked to stay in the car. Rumple did not know that she had followed him to the well and saw him burying the dagger there.

"Here." Belle pointed to a spot on the ground.

"Are you sure?" Emma asked.

"Let's dig and find out," Regina suggested.

Hook, who was disguised as Emma, took the shovel the mayor had been holding and started digging. If the dagger was there, he could use it to control the Dark One. He did not care much about Cora's plan. He had a feeling she would screw him over sooner or later.

After about ten minutes of digging, a purple cloud suddenly appeared. The pirate stopped digging.

Cora and Rumple had appeared by the well.

"Mother? What are you doing here?" Regina said as she eyed the Dark One who was standing behind Cora.

The sorceress held out the dagger in front of the brunette.

"I have it! I have the dagger."

Regina smiled. A huge weight fell off her shoulders. She could finally have her son back.

"Come, let's wake your son up."

*.*.*.*.*

Rumplestiltskin stood next to Henry's bed. Cora held the dagger in front of him. Regina, Emma and Belle were at the foot of the boy's bed.

All of them had been brought to the hospital by Cora.

"Go ahead mother, get him to break the time loop curse." The mayor requested.

"In due time, my dear. Let's wake my grandson up first. He is more important than this town."

Cora held up the dagger and ordered the Dark One to wake Henry up.

Rumple was seething at the command. He did not want Regina to be reunited with her son so easily but he was unable to protest.

The Dark One waved his hand over Henry and excluded him from the time loop curse.

The boy opened his eyes and looked around the room.

"What happened?" he asked as he sat up.

"Henry!" Regina ran to his side and threw her arms around him. "I've missed you so much!"

"Hi Henry. I'm your grandmother." Cora smiled at the boy sweetly.

"Mom?" Henry said as he looked at both Emma and Regina for some explanation as to why Regina's mother was in Storybrooke.

"I'll explain later." The mayor told her son.

"Now on to the other thing."

Rumple got ready for Cora to order him to undo the time loop curse but that request never came. Instead, the sorceress had used the dagger to stab the Dark One in the heart.


	25. Chapter 24

**A/N: Sorry this took a while. My schedule is really busy. Good news is the next chapter is already written so the next update shouldn't take long.**

 **Chapter 8 of Fighting Spirit will be uploaded tomorrow.**

 **I hope you enjoy the story development. It will be a few more chapters before the story ends.**

* * *

"Mother?!" Regina gasped and brought Henry close to her chest shielding his eyes from the murder. "What are you doing?!"

"When the Dark One is dead, the curse will end," Cora said with pride.

She pulled out the dagger hoping to see her name replace Rumple's but it wasn't there. There wasn't even any blood present.

"No!" Cora exclaimed and looked at the spot she had just stabbed.

"Did you really think I would hand you the real dagger?" The Dark One said. "I knew you couldn't be trusted."

Cora stepped backwards, away from Rumplestiltskin and quickly magicked everybody in the hospital room, sans the Dark One, out of there.

*.*.*.*.*

"What the hell were you THINKING?!" Regina asked her mother when they rematerialized in Regina's living room. She still had her arms around Henry.

The mayor did not expect Cora to know where she lived. The whole night had been completely unpredictable which would have been a welcomed change if Cora wasn't behind it. Regina was cautious around her mother. She does not know what the older woman had in mind and that scared her.

"That was not part of the plan." Hook said, almost breaking character.

"I thought I had the real dagger." Cora defended herself.

"Even if you did, you know what killing Rumple with his dagger would do, right?" Regina asked crossing her arms.

"Of course I do, dear. It's a sacrifice I am willing to make for you." Cora said.

Regina scoffed at her mother's statement.

"This is no sacrifice. You just wanted his powers." Regina accused.

Neither of the women noticed Belle freaking out in the corner. The librarian almost witnessed the death of someone she used to care about dearly. Belle stood away from the bickering sorceresses and worked out how she felt about the whole situation.

Hook, still disguised as Emma, was contemplating blowing his cover and taking his anger out on Cora for betraying him and almost taking his opportunity of killing his mortal enemy from him.

"Which would end the curse and you can begin living a new day with your son." Cora pointed out.

"And have you around as the next Dark One? I don't think so." Regina finally lets go of her son and walked up to her mother.

"If you ever became the Dark One, I don't want you around me or my son." The mayor said.

"You would rather have Rumplestiltskin remain as the Dark One? The man who put a curse to punish you in the worst possible way?"

"Rumple makes deals. You on the other hand, only crave for more power." Regina pointed out.

"Don't you see, daughter? Together we can rule this realm and all the other realms."

"But I have no interest in ruling any realms. I just want to be a family with my son and Emma." The mayor said, not looking at the blonde's reaction.

"Fine. You don't have to rule the realms with me. Just help me find the real dagger."

"You don't get it, do you? I am not helping you turn into the Dark One. Even if it means I'm trapped in this curse." Regina said firmly to her mother.

"Then so be it!" Cora said before disappearing in a cloud of purple smoke.

Regina turns to Emma and Belle. "We need to find the dagger before my mother does."

Emma looked uneasy. The brunette can tell that something strange was going on because the sheriff had not acknowledged Henry waking up from the sleeping curse. She had not even said a single word to their son at all.

The mayor looked at Belle's worried face. She figured that the bookworm had enough excitement for the night. Regina walked over to where the redhead was.

"You should go be with Ruby. I'll make sure Cora doesn't try to kill Gold."

"Thank you," Belle said appreciatively.

The mayor waved a hand over the librarian, teleporting her back to the library.

"So we're back to locating the Dark One's dagger?" Emma asked.

"Yes. Henry, why don't you go to your room and get some rest?" Regina said to her son.

"Mom?" The boy said, not budging from where he stood.

"Yes dear, what is it?" Regina asked.

"I'm still hooked to the IV. I don't think I can bring this up to my room."

"Right." The brunette walked over to her son and used her magic to remove the IV and the cannula from his arm without hurting him.

The mayor hugged and kissed her son on his head. "Goodnight, Henry."

"Is Emma alright? She hasn't said a word to me." Henry whispered to his mom.

"Don't worry about it. Go get some rest." Regina reassured the boy.

Henry reluctantly went upstairs to his room.

Regina conjured up a fireball in her hand and turned to 'Emma'.

"Who are you and what did you do to Emma Swan?" The mayor asked the imposter.

"Regina, what are you doing?" Hook asked, trying his best to continue the farce.

"You've watched your son who was in a coma, on the brink of death, wake up and you have no reaction whatsoever? Who are you?" Regina moved closer to the other person in the room with her.

"Alright, your majesty. You got me. This was all your mother's plan. She did not want you to use light magic and break the curse with True Love's Kiss." Killian said.

"Reveal yourself." The queen demanded.

"I can't. I don't have magic." The pirate said calmly as if a fireball was not right in front of his face.

Regina twirled her hand in a circular motion in front of the stranger revealing his true form.

"Hook?!" The brunette exclaimed.

"Do I still look devilishly handsome?" the pirate smiled.

Regina used her magic to lift Hook by the neck, strangling him in the process.

"You were supposed to kill my mother!"

"I'm sorry… I… she…" Killian struggled to speak as the grip around his neck tightened.

The brunette released him and he fell to the ground on his back.

"Why didn't you kill her when you had the chance?"

The pirate coughed as he tried to speak. "I couldn't. She did not have her heart with her." The pirate answered honestly.

"So you've been what? Hanging around Cora like her little pet?"

"She promised I'll get my revenge on the 'Crocodile'."

"Where is Emma?" Regina did not mean to let her emotions bleed through her poker face but the thought of the sheriff had let down her defences.

"She's safe. She's on board my ship."

"Bring me to her."


	26. Chapter 25

**A/N: We are coming to the last few chapters of Reset. I hope you will enjoy the rest of the story. Will try to finish it by end of next month or so depending on my schedule and my beta reader.**

* * *

Regina did not feel comfortable leaving her son all alone at home with Cora roaming free. She placed a protection spell on her house to prevent her mother from breaking in and taking Henry away.

She needed to rescue Emma and not leave her as a pawn her mother would most likely turn her into since she couldn't get to Henry.

"Where's your ship?" the brunette questioned the pirate when she couldn't see the Jolly Roger docked on the pier.

"Cora placed a cloaking spell on it. Follow me." Hook led Regina aboard the boat.

Once they passed through the layer of magic, they could finally see the ship in all its glory.

The mayor looked around and furrowed when she couldn't locate the blonde.

"She's below deck." The pirate informed the queen.

Wary of a potential threat, Regina readied herself in case she needed to defend herself.

The mayor took slow careful steps down to the hold anticipating a trap. When she saw there was nobody else there except for Emma, Regina was relieved.

She rushed over to the sheriff.

"Emma?"

The blonde was still unconscious. She had her hands tied up in front of her.

Regina untied the ropes that were tied around Emma's hands and legs. She gently shook the blonde's shoulders, waking her up.

"Emma? Wake up!"

The blonde moaned. Regina continued shaking Emma awake.

The sheriff opened her eyes and winced at the pain at the back of her head.

"Regina?" Emma said groggily. "What's going on? Where am I?" the blonde tried to stand up but was too dizzy to do so.

"Don't try to get up." The brunette advised. Scared that the blonde might have suffered a concussion. "You're on a pirate ship. My mother had Captain Hook kidnap you." The mayor tried to explain.

Emma chuckled making the mayor furrow her brows in confusion. "I must be so out of it! I heard you say that Captain Hook kidnapped me and put me on a pirate ship."

"That's exactly what I said."

"Seriously?!" The sheriff looked around. "I'm on a boat." She said once she confirmed her surroundings.

"Ship. If you don't mind." A male voice said.

Emma craned her neck to see who had said that.

"Hello, Emma. I don't believe we had been properly introduced." The pirate said once he was in clear view. He stepped in front of Regina. "Captain Hook, at your service." The pirate said as he bowed.

The mayor rolled her eyes. _Just what I needed. A one-handed pirate to get in the way._

"Somehow I was picturing you with a perm and a curly moustache," Emma said.

Hook gave his best 'devilishly handsome smile'.

"If you're quite done, we have some work to do." Regina did her best to not sound jealous.

"I'm sorry, your majesty. Just thought I should acquaint myself with the lass." Hook said without taking his eyes off the blonde.

"I think you have acquainted yourself with Emma enough when you pretended to be her the whole night." Regina muttered under her breath.

The mayor helped Emma up with the help of the pirate.

"Regina, I…"

"Henry is awake." Regina interrupted the younger woman.

"He is?" The sheriff felt elated by the news. She almost hugged the brunette but remembered how the boy got into a coma in the first place.

She cleared her throat and nodded her thanks to the other two when she was able to stand on her own.

There was so much that Regina wanted to talk to Emma about. She wanted to inform her about her power-hungry witch of a mother, about how they have to get hold of the dagger before Cora does, about how Henry is no longer affected by the time loop curse but most of all, about how Emma felt about the mayor having feelings for her.

The brunette put her best poker face on and fill the sheriff in on the plan. She wished she didn't have a flaky accomplice like Hook but she needed all the help she could get.

*.*.*.*.*

The sun was up when Regina, Emma and Hook returned to the well to continue their search for the dagger before Cora interrupted them. It was much easier to look with the aid of sunlight.

The ladies avoided eye contact while they dug several holes in the ground.

"What's the plan after we get the dagger?" The blonde asked the mayor.

"I will command Rumple to remove the curse," Regina said, not looking up from the task at hand.

"I know that part. What happens _after_?" Emma asked.

"I don't know. I don't want Gold or Cora in town. Maybe I'll get him to bring her across the town line and then I build a boundary stopping them from entering Storybrooke." The brunette could almost feel the joy she would have once she got rid of her mentor and her mother.

Hook had gone to dig at the other side of the well. He was not out of earshot of the two women.

"Regina, I'm sorry I stormed out last night after you…" Emma struggled to word her apology.

"It's fine. I shouldn't have sprung it up on you like that." The mayor thought about how vulnerable she let herself be when she confessed her feelings for Emma.

"We can talk about it when all of this is over."

"I'm counting on one more time loop so that you wouldn't remember what I said." Regina jested.

The blonde gave a polite smile. She could see how hurt and small the once regal mayor looked.

"Any luck on your end Hook?" Regina asked the pirate, moving away from the topic.

"Hook?" the brunette called out again a little louder. "Killian?"

Regina stood up and walked over to where she last saw the pirate. She got furious when she saw that he was no longer at the well.

The brunette looked at the hole he had been digging. It looked like it once housed a heavy object that is long and roughly the size of the dagger.

Emma stood next to Regina to see what had the mayor stunned and upset.

"That mother-"

"Regina! Look!" The sheriff interrupted the mayor and pointed in the direction where Killian could be seen running.

The brunette quickly teleported herself at the foot of the hill where Killian was headed. She waited for him to appear.

The pirate almost stumbled when he saw who was standing in front of him.

Regina held out her hand. The pirate, defeated, handed the dagger over to the Evil Queen.

"Good choice." She said and waved her hand in front of him making him disappear and reappear tied up at the hold of his ship where Emma was not too long ago.

Hook struggled to break free of his bonds. The more he struggled, the tighter the ropes got. Frustrated, he kicked at a bucket next to him.

"You will not take my revenge from me, Regina!" He screamed.


	27. Chapter 26

It had been some time since Cora left Regina's mayoral mansion. She had gone straight to the well where she found Belle, Regina and Hook digging the ground. She figured that the librarian could have been right about the location of the dagger all along.

She looked around for other spots that could potentially conceal the dagger. She could see that the party before her hadn't had much time to explore the place before she interrupted them.

The elderly sorceress wished that she still had Hook around to do the dirty work. She would never dream of getting any of the dirt on her pristine clothing.

Holding out her hand, palm facing down to the ground, she conjured up a spell akin to a modern day metal detector. Bits of gravel and debris vibrated but produced nothing. She continued on to another spot, determined to get hold of the dagger before Rumple or Regina could get it.

Not willing to give up, she conjured up more of her power to create a stronger detection of the dagger.

The sound of metallic clanking caught her attention. She looked around for the source of the noise. She saw bits of soil shifting and revealing a shiny metal with familiar engravings.

 _I found it!_ The woman smiled triumphantly to herself as she focused on uncovering the rest of the dagger.

A cloud of purple smoke stopped her in her activity. Not wanting to be seen, she immediately transformed into a raven and flew up a tree to hide from her daughter.

She cursed herself for taking too long to find the dagger. She watched on as Regina, Emma and Hook spread out next to the well and began digging.

Luckily for Cora, the trio was searching on the wrong side of the well.

If only she could convince the pirate to work with her again, she may still stand a chance to harness the greatest power in the world.

Just then, she had an idea. Staying in her bird form, Cora flew away from the location, not drawing any attention to her presence.

Cora had flown all the way to the Jolly Roger where her belongings were kept. She transformed back to her normal form once she landed on deck.

She walked over to the Captain's cabin where her things were stored. Her trunks were exactly how she left it. She waved her hand to lift the protection spell that was protecting her valuable possessions and opened her wardrobe trunk.

One half of the trunk held all of her favourite clothes and on another half of the trunk were a set of drawers. She pulled open the top drawer and retrieved a mirror.

*.*.*.*.*

Hook was trying his best to not eavesdrop on the pair of women who clearly needed time alone to talk. He moved a little further away from them.

He used his hook to dig into the ground. The pirate dug and poked around hoping to find his treasure which in this case would be the dagger that will end the 'Crocodile'.

He got startled when Cora's face suddenly emerged on his hook.

"Cora?!" Hook exclaimed quietly so that the other women did not hear him.

He looked around to make sure that his companions did not hear him before turning his attention back to the image on his makeshift prosthetics.

"I'm sorry I wasn't honest of my intentions with you, Hook. I was sure that you would not be happy with it. But you need to understand that the only way to kill Rumple is to kill him with the dagger and if you had done that, you will turn into the Dark One yourself." Cora explained.

"Aye. I've given it some thought and I can never allow myself to turn into the monster he is." The pirate said in a hushed voice.

"If you help me find the dagger, I will gladly take on the burden and Rumplestiltskin will finally die."

"Even if I help you, I don't know where the dagger is." Hook replied.

"But I do. My daughter has no interest in your revenge. You will have to promise to work with me before I reveal any more." The sorceress said.

"Aye, I promise."

With the confirmation of the pirate being back on board her side, Cora waved her hand revealing the dagger's location.

Hook quietly moved to the spot where the dagger was partially buried. He dug up the rest of the soil that still concealed the weapon.

Once the dagger was fully uncovered, the pirate picked it up, examining it. He turned to see Emma and Regina had just ended their conversation.

He placed the dagger in the inside pocket of his long black jacket. Quietly, he snuck out of the place and made a run for it.

*.*.*.*.*

Cora walked down the stairs leading to the ship's hold. There, in the same spot where the pirate had kept Emma Swan captive the previous night, was Killian Jones in its place, tied up in his own ship.

The elder brunette regretted finding an accomplice as incompetent as Captain Hook.

Cora untied the pirate with her magic. Killian stood up and dusted himself.

"You imbecile! I'm beginning to wonder if you really want to avenge the death of your lover." The sorceress chastised.

Unable to accept the insinuation, Hook lunged at Cora, pinning her against the wall with his right arm and bringing his sharp metal hook close to her face in a threatening manner.

"Don't ever doubt my commitment to my Milah."

"You will need to do better because my daughter has the dagger and I'm pretty sure after Rumple undoes the curse, he will leave town to hunt down his son and you will not have the chance to find him in this world." The elder woman said in confidence despite the position she was in.

The pirate knew that Cora was right. He released his grip on the brunette.

"What now?" he asked.

*.*.*.*.*

Exhausted after an eventful night that bled into the morning, Regina retired to her bedroom. The queen couldn't remember the last time she had slept. She figured she needed to recharge her batteries before facing Gold.

Emma had tagged along to the Mayoral mansion to see her son who had thankfully awaken from the curse.

The blonde went to his room to find that he was still asleep. She walked up to the boy's bed and kissed him on the forehead just to make sure he wasn't still cursed.

"Emma?" a raspy voice asked.

The sheriff breathed a sigh of relief that her son was alright.

"Hey, kid! Sorry to wake you." The blonde half apologised.

"You're still here?" the curious boy asked.

"I just got here, kid."

"I knew the 'Emma' that was here last night wasn't you!" Henry smiled.

"The 'Emma' from last night was actually Captain Hook."

The young boy's eyes grew wide at the mention of the pirate's name.

"I didn't know Captain Hook was in Storybrooke! Why was he disguised as you? Was he working with my grandmother?"

Emma was overwhelmed by the bombardment of questions from her son.

"Whoa, kid! Slow down." The blonde said.

"Yes, Henry. We've all had enough excitement for one night." Regina said.

Both Emma and Henry turned to see the mayor standing at the doorway of Henry's room. Neither one of them noticed she had been watching their interaction from the corridor.

"Emma, I would suggest that you stay here since neither Cora, Hook nor Gold can break through the protective barrier I've put up around the house." The brunette suggested.

"Thank you, Regina." The blonde said and let out a yawn.

After getting hold of the dagger and learning that Henry was fine, Emma's body was reminding her of a much-needed rest.

"If you need to rest, there is a spare bedroom next to my room. Feel free to use it." The mayor offered.

"Thanks." The sheriff smiled at Regina sincerely.

"If you need me, I'll be in my room." With that, the mayor left Henry's room.

"Regina, wait!" Emma went after the brunette.

"Yes?" the queen turned on her heels. She could feel her heart beating fast at the sudden close proximity to her crush.

"When you go up against Gold, I'll be there as back up." The blonde said.

"Emma, you should really just stay here and let me clean up the mess I made."

"Yeah, but when you leave this house with that dagger, it won't just be Gold that you need to look out for." Emma reminded Regina of the dangers that await her out there.

"I am perfectly aware of what is out there. That is why I have placed a protection spell on my house. I will not let Gold, Hook or my own mother hurt the people I love anymore." The mayor froze for a second at the confession of loving the blonde. Her well-practised poker face slipped on quickly to not draw attention to the slip of the tongue.

Emma caught the words but chose to let it go. She knew how emotional this whole situation was.

"You can't face all of them alone. Let me help you." The blonde stepped closer to the mayor.

Regina could feel Emma's breath on her skin. It took all of her to not throw caution to the wind and just throw herself at the blonde.

Knowing how stubborn the sheriff was about the matter, the mayor did not protest. She nodded her head before heading into her bedroom and closing the door behind her.


	28. Chapter 27

**A/N: Something a little fun and lighthearted before we get to the showdown. Enjoy!**

* * *

Being so exhausted, it wasn't a surprise that the regal Queen almost immediately fell asleep as soon as her head hit the pillows. She did not bother closing the curtains to block out the bright morning sunlight.

After getting a good sleep, Regina slowly woke up. Her body was aching all over. She was starving and still felt exhausted despite catching up on sleep. She battled her depression that was convincing her to just let the 'reset' take place so that she did not have to face Emma and the awkwardness of her confession.

As tempting as it was, she couldn't guarantee if Rumple had indeed given Henry immunity from the curse. She couldn't even be sure if the dagger would remain in her possession. There were too much at stake for her to lay about all day.

She sat up and stared at the wall on her right. Her heart started beating fast. It was only one thin wall separating her from her love. It was both exhilarating and depressing at the same time.

The mayor would have to just bear a few more hours with the blonde. If they succeeded, she can try to avoid spending too much time with the sheriff. If they don't, Regina can try True Love's Kiss with a different Emma. Although, how she was going to execute it was anyone's guess.

She reached out for her alarm clock and turned it towards her. 6:25 p.m. She still had some time before the next reset.

The brunette went to the bathroom to freshen up and changed out of her light turquoise silk pyjamas.

She was now literally dressed to kill. The mayor wore her stretchy, loose-fitting slacks along with a grey tunic.

The Queen needed to be comfortable and ready to battle anybody who got in her way.

Satisfied with her ensemble, Regina left her room to check on her son and Emma.

*.*.*.*.*

 _Where are they?!_ Regina panicked when both Henry and Emma were not in their rooms. She couldn't hear any movements downstairs.

Breathing deeply, the mayor slowly calmed herself down and reasoned that she was jumping to conclusion.

Regina rushed down the spiral stairs leading to the foyer. Upon descending, she smelled something. _Food!_

"Henry?" the brunette called out.

"We're in the dining room." Emma's voice answered.

Hearing the sheriff's voice in her home felt surreal. The mayor could get used to this. She can't remember the last time she felt this happy and relaxed.

Regina paused just outside the dining room and calmed herself to not get used to the situation. She knew that this would be the only time Emma would be in her house as a guest. After the whole ordeal with the curse is dealt with, they will both carry on with their separate lives. She had, after all, convinced the blonde to go back to Boston. The mayor was unsure if the blonde had changed her mind since the dark curse broke.

The mayor stepped into the dining room, her eyes bulged at the sight of the takeout food from the diner. There was enough food there to feed the entire town!

Both Emma and Henry were in the process of getting the food out of the takeout paper bags. It appears that the brunette had been just in time for dinner. It was already seven o'clock in the evening. Regina had slept most of the day away.

"Hungry?" the sheriff asked as she opened a container that had a huge cheeseburger in it.

"Starving!" Regina replied absentmindedly. She had not eaten a single thing all day.

"Me too!" Henry chimed in.

The brunette joined the other two at the table and picked up one of the containers of food.

Just before she took a bite of the cheeseburger in her hand, a thought crossed her mind.

"You did not leave the house to get this, did you?" Regina asked the blonde.

"Nope. I had one of the waitresses at Granny's deliver it."

The mayor took a bite into her juicy burger. Relieved that Emma had heeded her advice and not leave the house.

Regina was in the middle of her second burger when she noticed two pairs of eyes staring at her.

"What?" the brunette asked innocently with a mouth full of food, unaware of the ketchup running down her chin.

Both Emma and Henry averted their eyes, smiling knowingly.

"Nothing. You like the burger?" the blonde asked, trying not to laugh.

The boy ate his burger, stifling a laugh.

The mayor licked her lips and tasted ketchup. She quickly grabbed a napkin and wiped her mouth, cleaning up the mess on her face.

She could feel her cheeks turn red with embarrassment. If she were back in the Enchanted Forrest, she would have punished anybody who laughed at her. But she could never punish the two people she loved so much. Regina smiled at how comfortable it was having a meal with her son and Emma Swan in her home, like a family.

The brunette picked up a fry and tossed it at the blonde.

The sheriff was surprised to have a piece of food propelled at her chest from across the table. She looked up at Regina and all three of them burst into fits of laughter.

*.*.*.*.*

"Henry, I need you to stay here with Belle," Regina instructed her son.

The ten-year-old boy nodded his head in understanding and sat in an unoccupied sofa and turned on the television.

The mayor knew that this mission was dangerous and she knew her son would worry for his two mothers. She also knew that the boy might try to get involved as a result of his worry and she wouldn't want to risk losing her son.

The brunette had summoned Belle with magic to help keep an eye on the boy to ensure that he did as he was told. The brunette had also brought Ruby over so that the librarian would not feel sad from being away from the waitress.

Regina walked up to Belle who was sitting next to Ruby who laid stretched out across a sofa.

"Thank you so much for agreeing to do this. Don't worry, the curse will end soon and we can try to wake Ruby up."

"Good luck." The librarian wished the other two women. Her words were so simple yet so laden with hope and expectations.

Emma went over to where Henry sat and kissed him on the head.

"We'll be back before you know it." The sheriff said before standing by Regina's side.

"Ready?" the mayor asked.

The blonde replied by nodding her head.

A cloud of purplish smoke appeared and the two women vanished.


	29. Chapter 28

The two women were cutting it really close to the next reset. Regina had brought them to her vault where she felt would be the safest place to summon Rumplestiltskin to.

Emma was looking around the wall of magical items that the Evil Queen had stored in the underground cave beneath the Mills' Mausoleum while the brunette creates a protection circle out of squid ink in the middle of the room to hold the Dark One in when she calls him to the hideout.

"You know, I've never believed Henry when he said you were the Evil Queen." The sheriff said out of the blue.

"Nobody did under the Dark Curse. Besides, you've never seen me in the Enchanted Forest." The mayor replied, not stopping from her task at hand.

"No… I mean… as cruel as you've been to me, I've only seen you as, Henry's overprotective mother who was doing whatever it took to prevent a stranger from taking her son away."

Regina stopped what she was doing and tried not to overthink what the blonde was saying. She could feel the sincerity in Emma's voice.

"If we had met under different circumstances, I could see myself being attracted to you." The sheriff confessed.

The mayor wished that she could turn back time. She wished she hadn't done all those terrible things to the blonde. She really wished that she was not the Evil Queen and Emma was not the daughter of Snow White and Prince Charming. But if it was a different reality, would Emma Swan had been born?

Regina felt a hand on her shoulder. A warm gentle touch that sets electric sparks coursing through her entire body. She shut her eyes and savoured the moment a little longer.

It hurt too much to think that she had ruined her chances of being with the woman that she had, unknowingly, fallen in love with.

"I've finished creating the circle." The brunette said without making eye contact, moving away from the blonde.

"Regina…"

"Emma, please." The mayor cut her off. She was finding it harder and harder to keep her mask on.

A stubborn tear escaped chocolate eyes, betraying the owner in keeping the feelings hidden. Regina hated appearing weak and vulnerable. Her mother was right, love _is_ weakness.

"We're running out of time." The mayor reminded the sheriff.

"You have the dagger, if time resets itself, you can still get Gold to lift the curse." Emma pointed out.

"Why do you choose to do this now?"

"Because if we ran out of time and time resets itself, I want you to know how I felt."

"About what?" Regina asked.

"About you."

The mayor could feel her heart beating faster. She did not know what the blonde was trying to say. _You are reading too much into this, Regina. There is no way she can ever love you._ The mayor convinced herself.

"And how exactly do you feel about me?" the brunette wanted to sound neutral and indifferent but her throat had become dry all of a sudden from the suspense of this unexpected confession.

"I'm not sure."

Regina felt disappointed by the answer. She rolled her eyes and attempted to carry on with the next task but stopped when Emma continued to speak.

"Yesterday, I went to you for a truce and you gave me an apple turnover for my journey back to Boston…"

The brunette felt uncomfortable about her attempt to permanently end the sheriff's life but ended up almost killing her son.

"I thought that for the first time, you were being civil and then Henry ate the pie and went into a coma and I hated you for it.

Regina swallowed a lump in her throat.

"But the whole of last night, you were a completely different person. You have no hidden agenda, no selfishness. For the first time, Regina, I saw you for who you truly are… a mother, a friend, a woman who is paying for her sins in the worst possible way. You, Regina Mills, are a brave woman and I wish I will get to spend a lot of time in the future, getting to know you.

The brunette could not hold back the tears that were now streaming down her face.

"Why do you have to tell me this now? When time resets, I won't see you again. You would not have seen what happened last night. You will never feel for me as you do right now." The mayor did not like exposing her thoughts like this. She hated what Emma was doing to her.

"When you succeed in breaking the curse, Regina, I'll still have these feelings for you." The blonde said as she teared up.

Regina looked at her watch, 8:08 p.m. They did not have time. They need to summon the Dark One or risk losing the advantage they had achieved.

There was no guarantee that the dagger would remain with the brunette. Cora could ruin the plan and get hold of the dagger first if it went back to the well.

She knew she needed to act fast yet she stood there, not moving, staring at the woman she had fallen so deeply for.

A thought suddenly came to the brunette's mind. Why did her mother have Hook disguised as Emma and have _him_ kiss her?

Regina got out of her trance and started pacing about.

"Regina? Are you okay?"

"My mother…" the mayor said as she continued pacing and wringing her hands in deep contemplation.

"What?" Emma was completely lost.

"She had Hook become you and he kissed me."

"So?"

"Why did she do that? And how did he know to kiss me as… you?"

"Maybe she knew that you wanted to try True Love's Kiss to break the curse?"

"But why have him kiss me and not just reject me?"

The brunette could not wrap her head around the motive.

"Maybe she wants you to think that it won't work so that you will help her look for the dagger?" Emma suggested.

"Possibly." Regina considered the answer.

Something did not sit right with that theory. She recalled what Hook had said to her. Something about meeting a sorceress who said that the kiss might work.

"Cora wanted to prove that it won't work for more than just to team up with her." She concluded.

The brunette stopped her pacing when the realisation hit her.

"She knew that it would work!"

"What?" the sheriff was confused.

"This whole time, I did not think about trying True Love's Kiss because she had made me believe that it would never work." Regina walked over to the blonde and held both of Emma's hands.

"I gave up that thought because I felt that I've tried it and it did not work. I've completely thrown it out as a possible way to break the curse!"

The sheriff studied Regina's expression. There was hope in brown eyes.

"You think what we have is true love?" Emma asked.

"I… I don't know." The mayor released the blonde's hands and turned around.

Regina realised that she was almost suggesting that they kiss and see what happens. She let her hopes up but forgot that although Emma had expressed a possibility of an inkling to maybe developing some feelings for the mayor, there was no way that they had 'true love'.

The brunette kicked herself for being so foolish. It was completely inappropriate for her to suggest that they kiss and also the time for the next reset was going to happen in any second.

Emma turned Regina around to face her before the brunette could protest, the blonde planted a soft chaste kiss on plump red lips.

The mayor relished how tender the kiss was and how gently Emma had kissed her. She could breathe in the blonde's scent, sending herself into a giddy moment of ecstasy. She felt goose bumps crawling all over her skin all the way down to her toes.

She almost pouted when she no longer felt Emma's lips pressed against hers.

Regina opened her eyes slowly.

She was back in Henry's room, wearing the same suit from the night her son ate the apple turnover.

* * *

 **A/N: Oh no! Not again! The next chapter will be coming out tomorrow... I have an announcement to make so stay tuned. Also leave me a review of what you think of the story so far and your theory on how this curse will end (it will end eventually I am not wicked to have this curse go on forever!)**


	30. Chapter 29

"Regina?" a female voice called out from downstairs.

The mayor was surprised to find that she wasn't alone in her home like she normally would be during the reset until she realised who it could be.

The brunette immediately went downstairs to talk to Belle and see if Henry was there with her.

"Belle, where's Henry?" Regina asked as soon as she saw the librarian at the foot of the stairs.

"I don't know. One minute I was learning what Pokémons were and the next thing I know, he and Ruby were gone." Belle explained.

"How did you know I was home?" the mayor asked.

"I guessed the reset occurred and that you would be home."

Regina knew that the librarian was smart but it always marvelled her how sharp as a tack she was. Maybe it was the whole falling in love with Rumplestiltskin that gave the mayor the image that Belle was a simple village girl.

"The kiss… it didn't work." The mayor mumbled to herself.

"Kiss?" the librarian inquired. "You and Emma kissed?" She squealed excitedly forgetting the curse momentarily.

"It doesn't matter. She's clearly not my true love." The brunette said, defeated.

"So what?"

"What?" the former Evil Queen was thrown by Belle's attitude and blatant disregard to her sadness.

"She _let_ you kiss her. Who cares if it isn't true love? You two can still be together, right?" Belle pointed out.

Regina stood still. Dumbfounded by what the librarian had just said.

The mayor wanted to say something in protest when the phone in her pocket started vibrating. She fished it out from her pocket and answered without checking who was calling her.

"Hello?"

"Regina?!"

The voice on the line was not Dr Whale as she had expected.

"Emma?"

*.*.*.*.*

Kissing Regina felt more amazing than what Emma had ever fantasised about. Though, she would never admit to anyone that she had ever had fantasies of getting intimate with the mayor of Storybrooke.

The kiss was soft yet full of passion. It was like a whole flood-gate of emotions had been released the moment their lips touched. She did not know what made her feel bold enough to even kiss the woman who for almost a year had been a bane of her existence but she was glad she did.

The blonde had her fair share of kisses but none could compare to how the mayor kisses. She wanted more but it was over all of a sudden. She no longer felt the soft plump lips pressed against her pink lips.

Emma leaned in a bit more to try to kiss Regina again but to her disappointment, she was left hanging.

"Mom?"

The sheriff jumped out of her stupor.

"Henry! What are you doing here?" Emma asked.

She immediately realised that she was no longer in Regina's vault making out with the incredibly sexy mayor. She was back at Mary Margaret's apartment with her suitcase packed and Henry was with her.

"What's going on?" The blonde was confused.

"You did it! You and mom broke the curse!" the boy exclaimed.

"It worked." The sheriff said to herself in disbelieve.

The ten-year-old rushed over and hugged his birth mother. Emma knelt down and embraced her son. She was thankful that this time, the boy did not take a bite out of the poisoned apple turnover.

"Oh! I have to call your mom. She must be wondering where you are."

*.*.*.*.*

"We did it!" the sheriff shouted excitedly on the phone.

"What are you talking about?" Regina was very confused. She had no idea why it was Emma calling her and not Dr Whale.

"The curse is broken! Henry is here with me at Mary Margaret's apartment."

"Is he…" before Regina could ask the well-being of her son, the blonde cut her off.

"He is fine. He did not eat the turnover." The sheriff reassured the mother of her son.

"The curse is broken?" the mayor said to herself, the reality of them succeeding in breaking the curse finally sank in.

"The curse is broken?!" Belle exclaimed after overhearing Regina's end of the conversation.

"Go find Ruby and wake her up!" The mayor said to the librarian giving the girl a knowing wink.

"Thank you!" Belle smiled and practically ran out of the mansion.

"Good luck!" the brunette called out after her.

"Regina?" Emma's voice sounded scared on the other end of the line.

"I'm still here. Sorry."

"Your mother just appeared at the loft."

"You shouldn't have done that, Emma." Cora's voice was faint but was still audible on the line.

The only thing Regina heard after that was the sound of two thuds and the phone crashing to the ground.

"EMMA?! HENRY?!" the mayor called out in a panic.

She could hear the phone being picked up. Somebody was on the line. She could hear breathing.

"Bring the dagger to the docks if you want to see your precious son and Emma alive," Cora said in a sinister voice before disconnecting the call.

Regina's heart sank. She quickly teleported herself to the apartment.

When she arrived, the only things she saw were Emma's luggage and mobile phone on the ground. Neither Henry nor the blonde were anywhere in sight.

"Emma?! Henry?!" the brunette called out.

They were gone. The mayor's mother had kidnapped the people she loved and threatened their lives.

Regina dropped to her knees and began sobbing. She felt like she was eighteen again and her mother had just ripped out the heart of her first love, Daniel. Despite having magic and being one of the most powerful sorceresses from the Enchanted Forest, at that moment the brunette felt small and helpless.

The brunette did not want Cora to have the dagger but she was left with few options. She needed to hand over the dagger but she was only going to do so as a last resort.

The mayor will need to come up with a plan fast. She does not know how long Cora would wait before ripping their hearts out and kill them. If she knew her mother at all, the Queen of Hearts had every intention of carrying out her threats if her demands are not met.

To be continued…

* * *

 **A/N: Don't worry the story won't end here... I found that the next part no longer fits the title of the story as the curse had been broken. I had every intention of creating a sequel but the original plan was not to end it here but sometimes as I write the story, the characters and the whole plot speaks to me and tells me how the story should be.**

 **Unfortunately, it will take a while before I post up the sequel. I have not come up with a title yet but I do know that it will be a rescue mission, it will show what Rumplestiltskin is up to, the fate of Hook and Cora, the whole town's reaction to waking up from the curse if you remember Season 2 started off with a mob wanting to kill Regina. I'm really excited to write the next part and I hope you will forgive me for ending this story on a cliffhanger.**

 **I will post up a snippet of the first chapter of the sequel in the next chapter so that you know the title of the story.**


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